Letter to Scott, somewhere on the Pacific Ocean, 21 October 1999
Hi!!
It's 10.30 am on Thursday. Back to the old dearies at the Bingo today, after a full three
days off. No parties, funerals, dentists or overtime shifts. Just drinking
and talking, two of life's greatest pleasures. The Johnstone's have
re-appeared!! Last night a distinctly uneasy Mark was led into the Port by
his wife, and we proceeded to get quite drunk. Shiobhan left after a suitable
period, taking two pints of milk home (rice pudding?) and Mark and I were
able to spend some good time chatting.
But anyway - much Bunnahabn (Sp?) whisky was drunk, and one's head today is
far from clear. It doesn't matter though, Thursday is my easy day, the only
requirement being not to fart after two evenings of delicious Rogan Josh's
and Dhansak's . (No attempt at spelling here. They should re-name the damn
things Fish supper or summat, if you ask me!)
Sorry your little boat is getting battered on the bows. Sounds terrifying.
Dunno if you heard, but we had a major train-battering situation here, with
30 killed. It appears the trains go through red lights every day with gay
abandon. It's called SPAD. (Signal passed at danger.) This morning
Paddington Station re-opened after two weeks, and predictably, the News was
there asking people how terrified they'd felt on their journey. You would
laugh if it wasn't so sad. Railtrack have called the people of Reading
"hysterical", and the people of Reading (where most of the victims lived)
are understandably not amused.
The President of China is here for a couple of days, and police are
viciously hauling off any bystander who even unfurls a banner. It appears
we're demonstrating our idea of Human Rights. No doubt he'll be most
impressed, and order lots of planes and bombs.
Talking of Presidents, you really MUST take a tour of Microsoft (Mecca)
while you're in Seattle. I need a full report. Woolly Dave was in the bar
also, and he's made a multi-media CD which I'm looking forward to viewing. I
bought Tomb Raider 3 but it crashes my comp. I'm really not having much luck
with games. Thinking about getting a new motherfucker board, except the
Inland Revenue sent me a letter with attached Girobank slip demanding 2936
pounds. And 6 pence. (They've been under-taxing me for three years.)
Considering I took on part time work to get OUT of debt, the irony is
delicious. Your laptop for 99 dollars sounds irresistible. It will put you
on a par with Ali and Dolly, current queens of cyber.
Oh - Stuart is digital once again. I bought him a (pre-owned) monitor for
his 42nd birthday, but it wouldn't work. His whole system was donald ducked.
So we took a deep breath, re-formatted his fixed disk, and installed W98.
Astonishingly, it was 100 percent successful! He's lost all his former
material, but in return has got essentially a brand new and better system.
He's promised to go easy on the magazine disks and radge downloads this
time.
"You were very lucky," claimed Tony, somewhat upstaged. "Luck had nothing
to
do with it," I replied, tartly.
Must go now and attend to toilet. Hope nothing explodes.
magnificat
Copied from a framed picture in my Indian Take-away, The Punjab Mahal...
"The desire for power in excess caused angels to
fall; the desire for knowledge caused man to fall; but in charity is no excess, neither
can man or angels come into danger by it."
Holy Q'ran
