Episode 7 - SVW Tapes - 18th December, 1979

Well, hi there, y'all. This is Tuesday, the... 6? No, the 18th of December, and it's about 4:30 in the afternoon, and we get our mail very late. And guess what came today? "What came, boy? Presents!" Fresh chocolate fish and gumdrops and pineapple chunks! But we didn't unwrap the presents, all wrapped up for Father Christmas people. Just the candy, we had to get into the... We've already eaten... well, chocolate. Two? You've eaten two already? Oh, only one each? Goodness, we've got to keep them... slowly. We eat... don't have the... we three packets now, we've got sugars. Oh, we've been so spoiled! Pineapple chunks. It's hard for us not to open the other presents, isn't it? Because we've given... so really... now I have four, and baby's too. What other presents have you had, children? "And I have..." We're talking to the microphone now. "I have a tic-tac-toe." "Like that Marsha gave you? That tic-tac-toe opened right away? It's wood, and it's funny, and it has wee little places like... like Kerplunk? No, like... on little... it's a little thing." "But what's the name on it? Does it not...? Made..." "And she gave me an angel made out of straw." "Go on the tree. And then two presents, which we have..." "...of basketball, and said this tape's making noise out of... stop." "Go now. And you heard that I started basketball, and it was on the 16th, December 16, and the game was five to nine, and we were the nine? We won the basketball game first time I've ever played. And we'll play first Thursday next January. Okay, here goes. Merry Christmas, Nana and Grandad and Uncle David and Auntie Dorothy and cousin Tanya and cousin Tasha and cousin Stephen. Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas back. And tell us if you have a Christmas tree. And then we want to wish Auntie Elsie and Uncle Reg a Merry Christmas and Uncle Tony and cousin Aileen..." "...and cousin Jason and Corey. And who else do we have to...? Move?" "...Oh, and Melanie. Forget Melanie and Sylvie. Well, we won't go through all those friends... Patrick and James. We're wishing them... people in Christchurch a Merry Christmas, might well. Now we've been very spoiled because I went around to see Mrs. Izard tonight, didn't I? Because she called me to say she'd like me to have some Christmas holly and some greenery for the house, and she said to come around. And why did she give me?" "Three presents for the little Perrys! More presents for the little Perrys! And everyone's been very kind to you, haven't they, Bay? And Ben, he's got something for you now." "No, we're going down later, and we're going to go to Mrs. Curley..." "...and to Ruth's. Now, do you want to tell Nana about the Christmas pageant?" "Well, what were you in the Christmas pageant, boy, at the church? The Advent pageant?" "Were you...? What was I...? Were you a shepherd? You're a shepherd? Oh, we..." "...white with..." "...is that right? You had it on, boy? Not me? Yes, it was right. It was a stripy towel. Order chicken comes out on the tape by the way." "Well, don't do it. And what did the thing around your head look like? Le?" "What was it? An Arab sort of...? Hair?" "You looked like Ahab the Arab, didn't you?" "And Rachael kept telling you you might get shot because someone might think you're one of the Ayatollah's boys." "Poor Maitland. We went into McDonald's afterwards, and everybody was staring at you, weren't they, Bay?"

Well, that was Tuesday. It's now Wednesday, and I've just put the children to bed, and I thought I'd better get this tape finished to get off to you. You probably won't get it by Christmas, but you may get it for the New Year. We've been very busy. We're very settled into the cottage now, and perhaps I'll tell you about that first. The Elsons are really nice people, and you'll have a letter from me about that. Mrs. Elson's parents, her name's Susie, and they're Mr. & Mrs. Goodman, are arriving in New Zealand. I think they leave the States on the 28th of December and doing a tour, and I've written to a few people. They're staying at the James Cook. I've written to the Myers to ask them to make themselves known, and Ronald and England in Wellington, because, of course, they're Jewish people anyway. And I noted down a few little things for them to see and do in New Zealand and one thing and another. But if you could give them a call, it would be very nice. They were only one night in Christchurch, and I told you in the letter that Mr. Goodman is a retired manufacturer, I imagine pretty wealthy as well, and Mrs. Goodman is very interested in art apparently. So I mentioned some things for them to see in Wellington, the Beehive, I think, would be of interest to her.

Anyway, we've sort of been here two or three weeks now, I guess, and we're settling in very well. And we moved in... I think the last time I made a tape to you was the first week that we'd been here, and I was waiting for the telephone and the refrigerator. The refrigerator arrived, and finally the telephone did on a Thursday. It was a week late. They finally got their A's into gear when I rang Bell for... how many times I called them, but I finally called them and told them that a government department could do as well, and the telephone was on almost within half an hour. So that obviously hit the right spot. As you know, the telephone number is 231-4192, and the area code is 404, of course. And we're in communication with the world at last. It's really good to have your own telephone, especially that night while we were at the apartment for the month, I had to do my telephoning during the day from work. Anyway, we have three telephones in the cottage, which is rather unnecessary. One... we can talk... calls can come in on, but for some reason, I can't ring out on, and that's the one that I actually got from Bell, so I don't know what's wrong with it. But seeing as the other two work, I haven't done anything about that yet.

Anyway, we've started work around the 10 acres there is here, and the cottage is situated... well, there's two streets, Valley Road is the one that the mansion's letterbox is on, and their letterbox, I guess, is about half a mile from the house. It's a great long driveway down to their letterbox. And then we're on... on a circle, which is directly behind, and I guess from our letterbox to theirs would be a quarter of a mile. That's quite a hike. And it's just beautiful. I mean, it's covered in trees, and we were talking to one of the other gardeners the other Saturday. There is another gardener, a guy that's been here... his name is Alexander Turner. Distinguished for a black guy. Course, you haven't got a clue how old he is because they never age, but he can't be all that old because he's got a 14-year-old son. Anyway, Alexander's been here 19 years, and he remembers Bev and Jack, if you please, in the cottage. So he's really part of the furniture, and he's a bit of a hoot. The first weekend that John was out working with him, he told John to slow down, that he was showing him up, he was working too fast. And then last weekend, I nearly got into a bit of a controversy, into a bit of trouble because I said to John to clear the leaves away. You could imagine there's just a ton of leaves, it's unbelievable. But because the section's so big, we don't have to clear them completely. We put them onto the areas that are never used, you know, just into the bush. So we don't have to bag them because they've changed the laws here or the local, you know, rubbish collection service or whatever you call it, have decided that this year you have to bag all your leaves. Usually, people just put them out on the side of the road, and the big truck comes around and packs them all up, but this year they want them all bagged, which is a mammoth job. It's bad enough raking them up, it's really quite tiring after a while. I got out and did the first weekend we were here, did the leaves out front of here. And then John came over later with... they've got a big blowing machine that you blow them all across the lawn and get them into big heaps, which is really much, much quicker. But you still, of course, have to go around the very edges of fences and so on and so forth. That I decided that I would do the tennis court. The tennis court, by the way, is just right outside our back door. It's much closer to us than it is to them and very handy for us to use, and they don't use it, so it'll be great. And there's a ball machine on it so you can get out there and play on your own. I was going to do the leaves on the tennis court because, you know how you can imagine, they get all sort of caught around the edges of the tennis court. Anyway, Alexander said, "Oh no, no, I wasn't to touch the tennis court." That he liked to do the tennis court, that was his favorite job because he said if he runs out of things to do outside, they put him inside, and he hates being inside, he likes to be out. So he wanted to do the tennis court, so I wasn't allowed to encroach on his area. He used to work five days a week, but he only works two full days a week now. And well, Alex, and then there's Ruth. Everybody seems to be called Ruth. She's the maid, the full-time maid. She's here every day of the week, and she does all the cooking. But then there's another maid who... I don't know her name, I met her yesterday, she was there for the day. Then they have all kinds of other people come. There's a man comes in to do the lawns, and there's someone to clean the pool, and of course, they get all kinds of extra maintenance people in. This evening a guy came around called Neil, and he is the real estate... he handles all the Olson's real estate, and he will be the guy that gets all our paint and paper or whatever we need to decorate the cottage. He actually came around because they're having a bit of trouble with the previous tenants, you know, with getting their bond back. They want their... I don't know how much they had to pay, but they want it all back. And you know, the place was in a pretty bad state. The oven was revolting. That took me two full days to get that into any kind of order. I just finally sprayed it how many times, and then because we were pulling up five layers of flooring from the kitchen floor, I just literally poured water all over and let it run away. But we removed all the carpets and things, and you know, he sort of feels that they're not entitled to their full bond. The bathroom was just green with mold, and it doesn't look too bad now that I've scrubbed it down, but you know, it will eventually... as the whole place will be completely redecorated. I went through with him this evening; he's quite interested in the cottage, just to make it clear to him that we're really going to restore it. We're not just slapping another coat of paint on the already five coats of paint that are all over the place. We really want to get on and do it properly. And he was concerned with the flooring. You know, he thought that if it needed replacing, that they would see to that. But I think we've both agreed that I think with sanding, it will very likely come up, but that'll be the last job we do anyway. So we'll just see him about that when we get to it because we want to finish all the painting first. And... anyway, but otherwise, you know, the place is in pretty good shape now. We've got all the flooring up from the kitchen, and unfortunately, we had this problem with the final glue that was under the very last lino that we came to. The very last lino that we came to had black sort of gunk, and we can't get that off. The guy from Color Tile, the big, you know, tiling place here, has suggested that we use sort of a paint stripper, thinner stuff, but it's highly inflammable. John said, "You know, you'd have to do it on a day when we could have the place wide open." And we think probably that it will probably just sand off when we get a big sander in and do the whole thing, so we won't touch that until all the painting's finished.

Anyway, so I was telling you, yes, Alexander's really funny. He's, you know, been with the house for so long. I mean, he's been here longer than the Elson's have, of course. They've been here... owned the house eight years, only been in it six. He said Mrs. Elson does a terrific amount of entertaining, and one night she had 800 people and entertained them all. He said, "You know, it's really quite incredible." I can't... just cannot imagine entertaining 800 people anywhere. I guess even in their house, it must have been summertime because it's a big house, but they would have been in just about every room at that point. It's a huge place, actually. This real estate guy said tonight that the first thing we should do here is get under the house and put bats underneath the floors because, of course, being old, you know, the floorboards have got sort of gaps, and it's pretty cold under the house. There's quite a bit of room under the house. And put bats in the roof. So he's going to arrange for us to do that. And he said Mrs. Elson needs to put another lot of insulation in the mansion. It's got an enormously high attic, and apparently obviously using a great deal of energy. I can't imagine what their power bill must be; it would be just something phenomenal. It's something that sort of staggers us constantly, you know, living here and seeing the house that size and the running costs of a house that size. Just the cars and things alone for staff... you know, all the staff are picked up and delivered and dropped off. And we've got use of the station wagon any time, and they use that for the maid too. The maid uses that to run little Harry around. And John took Harry to a football match the other weekend that they were going to a... college? Or something? And they wanted to meet him down at the ball game. John drove them down there. That... just the general running of the house of this size is incredible. John was doing some work in the creek down the front. She wanted some trees chopped back that were wearing her... in the creek? The river runs right through the front of the property. And he was chopping the trees down there. He had these clippers, and they weren't too much chop. So he said to Alexander, "Isn't there some others?" And he said, "Oh yeah, some brand new ones out in the gardening shed," which is a cute little turret, you know, this is an English sort of castle. And so the little gardening cottage is on a quadrangle affair. There's the carriage house, and then you've got a great big square area where the boys have got a basketball post up, but it's a big quadrangle. And then on each corner, you've got a little turret, and these are the little gardening sheds, you know? They're all cute, big spirals on them. Anyway, so John and Alexander went up to the gardening cottage. I mean, it takes about half an hour to do anything there because they're up and down the driveway. John was cutting some... up and down, and had to take a car to do it because it's so far. And he was doing something... repair on the bridge anyway. They couldn't find these clippers, and Alexander said, "Oh, I don't know." He said, "Everybody that comes here takes something away." And so Mrs. Elson said, "I'll go down and buy some more," you know, so John goes and buys more clippers or, you know, big huge clippers and things. And anyway, he discovered that there's a tractor on the property which hasn't been used for a while and's just sort of sunk into the ground, but that's going to be really got because, you know, it's really a very long way from the house to here. And so he's got the tractor going now, and it's got a big, you know, leaf basket on the back of it, so that'll be really good. And we want to get the compost heap going and get Ruth to save all their cuttings. They haven't got a waste master here, so it's quite easy to save the vegetable clippings. We want to start a vegetable garden in the spring. And... but John has spent most of the last weekend and the weekend before doing leaves. That's the big thing at the moment. And he's been up on their roof doing the guttering. The roof's in a bad state, needs quite a lot of work done on it. A few leaks here and there. And... anyhow, they enter there... Oh, of course, the house holds very, very busy at the moment. The Elsons work fairly long hours and, you know, both extremely busy, but both the boys are home from Harvard at the moment, and I don't know where the... Westminster's quite finished yet, but anyway, Harvard has. And two boys are home, and little Harry's at Jack's school, Westminster, so he's here all the time anyway. The two other boys are home, and John said it's really quite funny. They've got three Mercedes in the carriage house. One convertible, which obviously they use in the summer, and one just sort of ordinary one, and one big saloon one, which I guess is for the whole family to go out in. But the convertible hasn't been used in a while, but the minute the boys arrive home, they're off round the town, shooting around in the convertible. The weather here's still nice enough to have the roof down. We've had our roof down. It's been cool, but the days have been just beautiful, I mean, day after day of beautiful sunshine and crisp sort of weather. It's really very nice. Anyhow, I met one of the boys the other day, John, I think met both of them. The one I met was Oglethorpe, he's the eldest, I think. Anyway. What else did I have to tell you about them? Oh yeah, that's right. Well, of course, they're frantically busy with Hanukkah. It started on the 15th. And so I was making shortbread. I finally cleaned out the oven part; I'd only cleaned the top of the stove so we could eat. And then finally got round to doing the oven, and then I decided to try and see if I could do any baking because there's not only no window, there's no thermostat, there's very little on the oven at all. The thermostat doesn't work properly. And to see if I could make some shortbread to give to people for Christmas. Anyway, I managed to sort it out after the first batch; I had it under control. And I've made some really good shortbread. Everyone seems to be thrilled with it. But I sent some over to the mansion. And I said, "Just from the... Happy Hanukkah and from the cottage kitchen." Mrs. Elson's just been delighted about it. She must have told me twice how great it was. And she told John twice, and she told... she told John she wants me to teach her how to make it. And we were laughing, we thought, you know, one day when she's whizzing through the kitchen, we might catch her. But I'm sure she never does anything in the kitchen; the maid does all the cooking. And but they seem to be pretty fuzzy with the boys home.

Things at work at John's office have changed... changing considerably. They've had great ructions. You remember that there was a guy called Jack White who's the boss of the laboratory? Well, he is the Pentecostal, a religious nutcase. And he finally, you know, things were getting real bad. It got to the point where John had to wear an earphone to listen to the radio because he couldn't listen to a commercial station; they won't listen to that. And they were listening to all these tapes of these sermons and God knows whatever. So that was bad enough. News, and I know that the girls even in the office next door, when I've been having all this treatment done, and they say, "Was John brought up with...?" You know, he just drives them crazy, this religious stuff. And of course, he's got three from the church working for him now. You know, they started to take over the place. Anyway, it all came to a head the week before last. He finally, you know... he didn't really want out, but he was just making life so miserable for everybody that obviously it had to come to an end. So Roy Johnson and Don, the other partner, just sort of put it to him, and he claimed he was going by Christmas once he found out. He kind of turned... "Oh well, if that's the way you feel, I'm off," you know. And he was taking all the religious nuts with him. And the funny thing was that only leaves John, if he takes the other three. That leaves John and one other guy that aren't part of the church. And the funny thing was that he didn't even ask John or this other guy to go with him. But of course, John... that was pretty obvious, seeing as Roy is the sponsor anyway. But oh, they've been having some fun trying to work out the financial details, but finally, it was agreed that he would go right before Christmas, although he had 90 days, which will run through March. And yes, it all came to... Roy's apparently been kept as cool. He's been pretty upset about it all. The other Friday night, I and John went and had a drink, and he was feeling a little, you know, low about the whole thing. But finally, you know, they came to arrangements and agreements and legal things. And then yesterday, Jack was to sign the papers, and he was going to... Roy would pay up, you know, whatever he owes them to get out. And Jack said, "I've changed my mind, I'm staying the 90 days," because he intends to take these three religious nuts with him and set up in business overnight and pay all their salaries and, you know, start off first of the year kind of thing. Well, it's almost impossible. So he's now obviously changed his mind and going to stay with it because, of course, while he stays with it, the salaries... he'll be paid at least, and it would give him more time. I mean, he was being a bit silly really, saying he was leaving right then and there anyway. However, at that point, Roy got mad because although he's got every legal right to stay on, he had said he was going, and he's just hedging around and you really brassing Roy off. And Roy was ready to go, and he started being... so of... you know he... talking to dentists and telling them that when they're complaining if the work's late or anything, he's saying, "Oh yes, well, it's all the other partners' fault," and that it won't happen when he's got his lab, thinking that these dentists are going to go with him. You know, he's making it quite clear that he's leaving and that he expects them to bring their accounts to him. And what's happening is that when the dentists are finding out that this is happening, the next thing they're ringing Roy, and John gets called in at this point because Roy's sort of... only got John talking to a doctor about the matter. And you find out that the dentist rings up and says, "What the hell's going on, Roy?" you know. And of course, naturally, they all stick together. So he hasn't got much hope really. Any accounts will go with him, as much as he's trying to.

So that's going to make a terrific difference to John because right now... the funny thing is Roy... John occasionally goes and does work for Roy. He has a lot of properties around the place, and John's been going and doing that work. Well, he does it in Roy's work time, and apparently Jack's been moaning about this, that John's quite often got the afternoon at Roy's house and so on. And it turns out that Jack contributes $60 a week to John's salary. Hell, that doesn't take much time to absorb, you know, that... I mean, an hour in the morning each day would pretty well knock that. You know? Roy has just given a brush off with him having so much to say. But once Jack's gone, John will be in a much better and stronger position as far as, you know, employment goes. Well, not that he's not in a strong position with Roy, but he'll probably get a lot more money out of it right now, you know, his salary isn't very much, of course. What's been happening has been that Jack has been dragging out copious salaries. He dragged out $66,000 last year and hasn't got a cracker left over from it because most of it goes to the church, and not sinking anything back in. Consequently, there isn't sufficient money to even give like the staff a bonus instead of waiting till the end of the year, which is... everyone here has 31st of December as the end of the financial year. Instead of waiting till the end and then the three partners dividing up the profits and giving the staff a bonus in the normal procedure, he's been dragging out so much that they're really sort of destitute. They've got huge gold accounts in New York. Which, of course... You know, got to be paid, and with the price of gold the way it is, the accounts suddenly got up to sort of $20,000, and you know, Jack just hasn't got the cash to pay his share. Anyway. Along with all these religious hoots going, everyone can't wait to really see the back of them. I think there'll be big changes, and Roy has apparently been sort of quizzing John about my coming to work for him. And so it looks like I could be in for a new job. You know, it's fine with Bob, but Bob was just... you know, when you were here, is that vague, you know, he's usually spaced out. And although he's off drugs right now completely, so he tells me. Took an aspirin today and claimed that was the hardest thing he'd had in an hour. But unfortunately, he's involved with that sort of... those sort of people. And I think he'll have trouble really pulling out of the whole scene completely. There were one of his friends was doing it with him, I think they're sort of going cold turkey or whatever, but he's, you know, trying not to be involved with that sort of thing, but he just never seems to be able to get his act quite together. And you know, it's fine, I mean, he's paying me a wage, and that's the main thing right now. I'm not, you know, I don't really feel like I owe him anything too much. So we'll see. I'll probably still do his deliveries when... if and when I go and work for Roy. But the thing about going to Roy is that he will get me a visa. You see? I'll put that to him, and he'll have more... have more show of getting a work visa myself through Roy than anybody else. And I think now that we've shown Roy that we're prepared to work, you know, he seems quite favorable towards us. He owns my car after all. That he will, you know, be of more help to me. And you know, so I'm quite looking forward to the possibilities next year in that line.

Anyway, he's even invited me to their Christmas party. I had to laugh. Zelda, she's the receptionist, her stop... as she answers all the phone calls and puts them through and that... she said to me, "Oh, that the good doctor had specifically invited Mr. Waters to the Christmas party." And it's tomorrow, at a place called The Public House in Roswell. And I just thought the name alone would put all the religious nuts off going. I think that you could feel fairly certain, even inviting them, that they wouldn't go. So it's at 12:30 tomorrow. And they've got no appointments in the afternoon, so it's from 12:30 till... So we're all quite looking forward to that. And... anyway, what else have I got? Oh yeah, and we've decided to go to St. Louis. That's why I'm sort of keen to get this tape made tonight because I may not have much time for the rest of the week. Everything seems to be closing in on me. I've been pretty busy getting sort of Christmas stuff all organized and made the shortbread and goodness knows what. And with the church pageant and different things the kids have had, it's pretty busy. But oh, my car radio's been playing up, so I've been back twice about that. And finally, I got so mad. You know, it was $300 this radio, and you can pick up a radio... car radio here for... $100 bucks, you know, much, much cheaper than that. But they claimed the Honda one was real good. But one day when I went in because it wasn't working properly, another guy there called Tom came out, and he said, "You know, what's the matter?" Carrying on. And I said, "Oh, you know, $300 bucks for the radio, and it's bad news as far as I'm concerned." He said, "Where's your cassette?" And I said, "I haven't got a cassette. I thought I was getting one, but I haven't got one." He said, "Oh, you've been overcharged." So that blew the gaff. So I knew then that I had been overcharged $50. So he said, "Oh, you should have had a cassette for $300." You know, I thought $300 is just ridiculous for a radio, especially one that doesn't go on FM. So anyway, I've been bickering around. Finally, when I took it to Tommy again the other day, he said that Ed Davis, who's the boss boss of the Honda people, that I could have $50 back or else pay $80, and they would take this one out and put a cassette in. When I got real hot about that, I wasn't going to spend another penny, would spend $8,000 bucks on that car, and I'm not spending another cracker. And so I went and had a couple of quotes done, you know, on getting a radio and everything put in and the whole works, installation and everything. And I can get a really good radio cassette for under $200 bucks. So I called Ed Davis today, the manager, and before I even opened my mouth, he said, "Oh..." He was dropping magnolias all over the place and saying, "Oh, I'm so sorry I didn't get back to you. I've been in a... say... I was meeting Dirty." He said, "Are you still having trouble with that stereo?" I said, "I certainly am! For $300, it's the worst radio I've ever heard!" And he... "Oh, well," he said, "all I want is for you to be happy." "All I want is for you to be happy." He said, "What is it that you would like?" And I said, "Well, you know, what are you offering?" And he said, "Well, you can, you know, have a radio replacement of $50, or," he said, "you know, I'll put a cassette in for you." I said, "Well, look, I've had quotes, they were a lot less than $300." "Oh," I said, "you're in the loss business?" You need to tell that... he said... Well, we're on side two, and I was telling you about my radio, and this guy was saying how he knows but... and no charge, he wouldn't contemplate charging me another penny and everything else, and he just wants my absolute utter happiness. And I said, "Well, you know, there's only two days before we go away now, and I just, you know, time's closing in, and I just can't fit it in before Christmas." "Oh, anytime, anytime!" Call him, and he will make arrangements. And I must admit that the service they give you is pretty incredible. When I called up the first time the radio just wasn't going properly, and I called up, and he said, "No, don't just come down." He said, "I would rather you came at a specific time, and we can be ready for you." He made it two o'clock one day last week. Well, I got there at about ten past two, and he was standing at the door, and I said, "Hi," you know. And he said, "Ms. Waters?" "Yes." And then he calls over two electrical radio guys, and they were waiting too. And I must have kept these guys waiting at the door, and they're all standing there with their little boxes and goodness knows what, and they leaped into the car and, you know, started working on it right away. And he, you know, had literally had them standing there waiting for me, which is pretty good because there's nothing worse than going to a place, especially when you're complaining and you've just got something brand new. So I guess that if I make an appointment in the new year, which I think I'll leave it till then now, I just can't be bothered with everything that's got so hectic here.

I think I've sent you some clippings about the shopping. Well, God, it's 10 times worse now. It's really just ridiculous. Last Friday, I was doing my deliveries for Bob, and that is the worst day of traffic that I've ever, ever had in the whole of our time here. I guess I was sort of unlucky that I happened to have to go that day. I struck four roadworks. Literally blew up in front of me, and I almost got caught in a very thick cloud of smoke. I didn't know what the hell happened to... because the smoke was so thick. But even looking in the rear-view mirror, I was just so far down the freeway, I couldn't see... see if it had come out of the cloud of smoke here. And I was on the road... oh god, oh Dad, it was just awful. I... you feel so tired, you know, driving in that traffic for so many hours. Anyway. The children are going off to sleep, so I've just given them the message. Anyway, I was saying about driving in the traffic. Yeah, this traffic was particular, though, it was real bad.

Anyway, what else did I have to tell you about? Oh yes, Mrs. Izard's just so sweet. You know, I was working for her... had done... you know, she's the lady with the boxes and goodness knows what. And she hates cockroaches. She just hates getting caught in the kitchen, and she loves the house, but she just wishes she could avoid the kitchen totally. Anyway, she called me the other day and just said, "Would I come around and get some Christmas holly?" And of course, I get around there, and she's got all these presents for us and that, which was... you know, we really don't know them that well. And she said she has a farm down in Griffin, Georgia, which is about an hour away, and she wants me to take the children down one weekend in March. There's lovely fishing in the pond, and we can go down and stay on her farm, which is very sweet. But she had presents for us, and we walked around the garden for about three-quarters of an hour chatting and cutting holly, and she's really into plants and things, and she was naming all these plants that I didn't have a clue of. And she insisted that I took some English holly and this, that, and the other thing to hang around the place. She said, "Well, you know, it is a bit like taking coals to Newcastle," but it was rather sweet, but it was from her garden. Anyway. She... her husband, you know, was very ill, and they were going to remove his colon, but they flew him to... she went to Boston with him to get a specialist opinion there. And they have decided not to operate. I don't quite know what that means, whether he's got cancer or not, but they have decided not to operate, and he is now back at work. Yeah. So you know, and she seemed pretty happy anyhow.

And that was Mrs. Izard. And then Marsha had left gifts the other day. The kids met... and we came home, and there were gifts on the steps from Marcisha. And there were little... two to open now and two to keep for Christmas. One, two little decorations of Peter Rabbit reaching on a wee clock for Maitland because everybody gets mad on decorations here, you know, they all give them as presents. And they got real cute on the tree. The tree doesn't look too bad considering we had nothing when we first put it up. It seems to be fairly cluttered with good stuff now. Gosh, we had a fire here yesterday morning at 4 am. A woman and an 18-month-old baby and somebody else in the house were burnt from Christmas tree lights, apparently. Mr... had been on, and I think they were over a central heating vent or something. They were all killed.

Anyway, well I was... oh, we had a terrible air accident here too, just as we... It was just a local plane, and there were seven people on board killed, five of whom worked for a design company, architectural design. They do, you know, shopping plazas and things like that. And five of them, apparently the two bosses, which included... you know, the two bosses were brilliant designers, and the other three were like their top staff too. And the company only had 20 people. It's just really rocked the local yokels. They lived... they worked, I... in the offices just down on Powers Ferry, not far from here. The other thing too that I just discovered is... you probably don't know him, but there's a guy called Isaac Hayes that... there's a big star... black guy. I can remember... isn't... Playboy magazine or Cleo or whatever one time. But he made the record called 'Shaft'. Well, he just lives down on which place? Powers Ferry? Just around the corner from here. Anyway. What else was there? Anyway, we wasn't... Oh, we're just thrilled with the car. It really is super. And Crane & Daley have finally come to light too. They want this Subaru back, and you know, that's once again sort of dicing on. They called our lawyer, and he called them, and they called him, and then us, and just that and the other... nothing else was developed at this point. So I guess it'll go on into the new year now, but they obviously were having one little spit before Christmas to try and get it sewn up before the 31st, but nothing so far has happened. And Thursday tomorrow... I doubt that much will happen this week.

Uh... what else? Oh, I don't know whether I told you, we've been roller skating at Jellybeans, and Mother got back on the skates. I took the kids too... to... take the kids to the early morning on the Saturday session, which is the tiny tot... that's the kids up to 11, but the mothers and fathers are allowed to skate because most of the kids obviously are learning and so on. Anyway, Maitland hadn't skated before, Rachael had, and she was pretty good straight off, but Maitland really did real well. He went on the sides for a while, and by the time we finished, he was really going pretty well. But it's a real fun place. It's a disco one, and boy, all flashing lights and goodness knows what... stars, like O Calcutta, except for the flashing lights. So it's quite hairy. And I really took the children... to take them to the tiny tot session more for my own safety than theirs because the 14-year-old speed skaters whizzing around me... more than I could handle. But it's amazing how quickly it comes back to you. It's really just like riding a bicycle, and you just sort of get back into the hang of it, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It's really good. And we're very near Jellybeans. It was an ice skating rink. It was closed last season, but last winter... this year, they reopened, and it's under... roller skating... roller skating now. And the guy that's running it looks just like Warwick Ruffy. You know, he's about the same height and looks a bit like him. And he said to me where was I from and so on and so forth. And he said, "Oh, you know, he'd been down to New Zealand for the roller skating championships in Christchurch a year or so back." So he knew all about New Zealand.

We haven't heard a great deal. I haven't had your... about these air fares, and I haven't had any clippings yet, which I did expect because Marsha called me to say she had a card from you that said that, you know, that she would probably forward the clips to her. And she may already have had them by now, which they have not turned up. But the present turned... which course was fantastic. Oh, what excitement! As soon as we saw it... here was this parcel... couldn't have had more security... labels insured and postage and goodness knows what. Well, we just got so excited. And to see chocolate fish, occasionally went bananas, and pineapple chunks. We haven't touched the pineapple chunks yet, and they have only had two chocolate fish because we've had rather a lot of fudge and candy and stuff around because people have been giving it to us for Christmas. But we're going to save them until we haven't really got anything else around. See, they're so special. But I was, you know, I know the postage here was a lot, but I thought, you know... I worked out about $4, I think, that was all the stamps that was done up. Perhaps there was more when it left NZ, but you know, I know $4 is a lot, but it's a hell of a lot better than not getting the parcel. And I sort of felt that it was well worth it because it seemed a pretty heavy parcel really with all those glucose barley sugars and whatever else is... that we have not opened yet. It seemed quite a heavy parcel. And you... as I say, well worth $4. But I guess you paid insurance as well and all that sort of thing. And my postman tonight specifically said... I got a letter from... today from the hospital, and Dad had addressed it to number nine Onslow Circle. And he said to me that he was my regular postman and that he would know the house was 69, but I must make sure my friends all know what our address was because he said if there's anybody else on, they may not know, and they wouldn't know where to put it. So... and he checked with me that I had got the parcel, which is the first time any postman's ever asked me, you know, whether we'd got it. And quite pleased that he was taking great care of my mail. Any other mail is being redirected now through the post office from Ruth's. And... John's working tonight. I really had a patient at 5:30 who needs a denture at about 10 in the morning, so he called him back to work. So I've no time... will see home, he'll probably... it have... that to get it better while Roy's gone off to the Omni to watch the basketball when he apparently is going back himself later on. He always... Roy's a really nice guy. Since he's been working on my teeth, I've got to know him a lot better. He's doing most of the talking, of course, I've got my mouth wide open. But he's awfully sweet and, you know, very sort of thoughtful and really genuine sort of an American.

Oh god, I knew I had something really hilarious to tell you. I got an invitation to a party. And guess who's party it was? But Patsy's! You remember the travel agent? Well, that was Patsy and Charles. Her husband's name's Charles. You know, I don't know whether when you were here, she would talk about him, but she... she absolutely abhorred him. Worked, you know, at all. And she... we went to this party. It was a really super party too. And coincidentally, I couldn't believe it. I was talking to the guy, and I looked out, and I said to the guy... girl, "There's somebody I know." And he said, "So what?" I know... well, I didn't even know. And it was DeeDee that lives in the cottage behind Beverly. Strangely enough, a year ago, DeeDee had given me the address of a girl about import wheels or something, the name of a business, and about getting cars in Europe and things, and she'd given me this name in case I wanted it. And I was going through my address book just a couple of nights before we went to the party, and I found this, and I thought, "Oh, I won't want that now," you know. And I threw it away. And I suddenly went through my mind that that name seemed familiar, and I sort of looked... I'd thrown it in the rubbish, and I looked through and I couldn't sort of find it again, so I just went on and left it in the... As I saw DeeDee at the party, it all tweaked together that it was Patsy that was on that name, and it was the same person. Anyhow, push... she's not a pound lighter than when you last saw her, and she looked quite... quite attractive though the other night. She hadn't lost on... she had a lovely home. She's got a grand piano, she plays the piano, and we had fun with the piano that... DeeDee and a girlfriend played sort of duets, and everybody sang, and it was really good. But very large party, I guess there wasn't... well, Bev and Jack were there, about 50 feet I suppose? 50 or 60 people. Patsy was in her element, but she's as mad as a hatter. I told her that you were in hospital, you know, and she, you know, she was rather sad to hear that. She said that she told everybody at the party how she just adored this guy from New Zealand. He really ruffled her feathers, said she really, you know, this guy was really something. And she told everybody that he was a socialist until the last hour, the 11th hour finally declared that he was a conservative. And she went into hysterics, and she was telling everybody at the party about that. So anyhow, you know, she's constantly in a hilarious frame of mind. And she said she's never at home, you know, and she said she's off to Egypt shortly. She said, "Well, the luck I've been having lately, I'll be on the same plane as the Shah." She's... what else did she said that was...? She said, "I'm having a house sale." She's selling everything in the house. She's bored to snorts with it. And I said, "Well Patsy, you know, what...?" Is selling everything called? She said, "Oh, I just feel like a change." I said, "You know, unlike most people change their hairstyle." She said, "Yeah, slightly more." So that's all. Anyway, this husband of hers that doesn't work, he's very keen on, well, I don't know, trains or something John said. I guess he plays with them during the day when he's at home. But she took last Friday off work or something, I guess the day before the party. And she said that was enough. One day at home was enough for her because she's been trying to encourage him to come down and run her business, but she said here had this one day off, and she sat down for an hour and watched a soap opera, and there was a woman dying for over an hour from taking sugar pills, and would... some guy with a gun under her bed or something or other. And she said that was enough. That was enough. She couldn't stand anymore. She was only too pleased to get back to work. She said that's what her husband and the maid do all day. She said they have a great life together, the maid anyway. But it was an excellent party, and met some really super people. And the one couple have invited us New Year's Eve party at their house. And another girl who we met at the party too, whose name is Anne, and she's Scottish. And anyhow, I said to this guy, "Oh, you're going to have bagpipes at midnight, I hope." And he said, "Oh, bagpipes at midnight? Oh yes, sure, yes." He's determined that he's going to organize bagpipes at midnight for Anne as well as us. And he said, "Oh well, you can come and have... all come all the way to America to celebrate a very British and Scottish New Year's Eve." But... anyway, the other thing about Patsy was that she was in Birmingham a couple of weeks ago, and she met an elderly couple that she apparently knows. And I forgot to get their name. I should have done that. That was stupid of me. But she asked... she was chatting away to them, and they said they'd just been up to see the New England fall. And she said, "Oh, she'd just booked a couple from New Zealand on a tour to the New England fall." And sure enough, same tour, same bus. They knew you. I said, "Well, they knew the people were there, did they?" So you wouldn't believe that it's such a small world. Yeah, so that was old Patsy because she's a scream and a half. Anyhow. So that was that anyway.

Bev and Jack, they've been great. You know, they lent us the real Arab headgear for my shepherd who's rushing around getting organised for Christmas. Anyway, I decided... I couldn't decide what to get Ruth Ann and Jim for Christmas. So we finally thought that it'd be nice to buy one of Jack's paintings. And he had the show, you know, which we didn't buy anything there, but we had wanted to, but we just felt it wasn't a convenient time for one or two reasons. And so I called Beverly to see if there were any paintings left of the smallest of the small to buy for Ruth Ann and Jim. She said there were a few. So I went around the other week, that one night last week, and to see that... there was only, I think, two of what he sold us for about $35, $40 bucks. And the risk... anyway, and he didn't really have much left. And of course, being so close to Christmas, I didn't think he'd be doing any more painting. So he had pulled one out... well, I didn't know this at the time, but he had about six lined up there, and I knew immediately the one I liked. And I said, "Oh, I just love that one, Jack. I've seen that before." And he said, "Oh, I just pulled that out because, you know, I had so few to show you. I've had it for a long time." And he said, "Oh, you can have that one." I said, "Look, I didn't come around here for a deal," because I really didn't. I wanted to just buy one, you know, straight out. And he said, "Oh look, I've had it so long." He painted it in 1978. He said, "You can have that one." And it was a... it reminded me of Nova Scotia, although it wasn't Nova Scotia. It was a little wharf thing affair with a boat up on a dry dock thing, a little fishing boat type thing with a wee jetty and not a jetty, but little boat houses, you know, that they put the boats into store. And it was real cute, low light there. So he gave me that one, and then he gave me 20% off the other one. And I said, "Well, that's not fair either. I don't want to have 20% off it." But it was a $50 painting, so I really was quite grateful to have 20% off it. And that was Kansas of the wheatfields in Kansas, much... just gorgeous. We just absolutely love it. So I ended up getting two paintings for $40, which is a real good deal. So I'm taking the boat one to Ruth and Jim. I thought they might enjoy that living so far inland. It'd be nice to doing something... dough? And we're keeping the wheatfields for ourselves because it's such a nice painting. We liked it so much. And but one day when I was around there a few weeks ago, one Saturday was quite funny that this exchange student was there, and Beverly was in her usual tizzy. She was supposed to be over at Bob Edwards' next door, they were having a cocktail party, which we had been invited to, I think I might have told you this, but didn't go. And you know, they'd back to... it was for their daughter, the first daughter's getting married, and it was to meet the husband and that. So I just... duck over and meet... and meet about six or fourteen or some ridiculous high number. And but we didn't go to the party. But Beverly was pouring... I couldn't imagine what she was pouring, but she said just pouring the punch, which was obviously non-alcoholic. Anyhow, she was trying to get ready, but there was a man coming round to pick up a painting, and he was a lawyer, happened... And this girl, the exchange student from New Zealand, and I were in the kitchen. She said, "You know, if I got upstairs and get the shower, he'll arrive. I just know it." And we said, "Well, you know, we'll wait for him." And she said, "Oh, he just looked like Robert Redford." And we said, "Well, we'll wait for... you'd get going up to the shower." He came. And he did just look like Robert Redford. You know, he talked up $700 bucks for one of Jack's paintings. It was a big one. It was a mission in Carmel, California, which we had seen. She was a very nice painting, but you know, he coughed up $700 bucks without batting an eyelid. So he really is doing extremely well now. And I'm taking Ruth Ann and Jim a copy of the American Art, the magazine that Jack has just featured in, with one of... and there was a photograph of one of his paintings, which he autographed for me. So you know, I think they'll probably quite enjoy that. And we spoke to Ruth Ann and Jim on Monday night. They both seem well. And the funny thing is the Thursday after Christmas, two days after Christmas, they're coming down to Birmingham, Alabama. So they may well be through here. But even so, I mean, it's a long way for us to go out there, but we really just could not have them here for Christmas right now. We just, you know, couldn't handle it. So you know, it'll be nice to get up there and enjoy it with them. And they said they maybe pushed for time that particular trip anyway, they may not be able to stay, but they thought they may have time to spend the night. We're going to talk about it when we get up there. We're leaving on Saturday morning, first thing if we can, and it'll take 10 hours, so we won't get there till late Saturday night probably, if we get away early Saturday morning. That it's sort of... you know, getting tough to tidy up everything here and out. It's really busy at work; everybody wants everything done the last minute, as usual. And most people aren't working on Monday, which I imagine will be the same at home.

I finally had a tape from Rona last week and brought up with a bit of news there. An interesting development with them. A letter from Joan apparently old Goudy ended up getting $100,000 out of Stewart's estate. I guess he's pretty happy, but I'm... out of that. Lizzie Kyle, very excited about the whole thing. And you went to... No, the story isn't it?

Well, finally got the little Perrys to sleep. They've had late nights every single night. There seems to be so much on for them to do. The night before last, we decided to go out and had a look at some Christmas lights. You know how everybody decorates everything here. And we went right downtown and had a look at Rich's Christmas tree, which is... I can't remember how many feet high it was. They had it up in the paper that it takes 45 gallons of water to keep it alive. It's on top of the building, and you can drive down the street... it's one of those buildings where... oh, like on Pitt and Hunter Street in Sydney from David Jones? It's got a walkway across, you know, and they've got it on there so you can drive down the street and it's right ahead of you. And all the windows on the walkway have been done like stained-glass windows, and it really is very beautiful. So they quite enjoyed that. That was a late night for them. And of course, every single night, they're so excited with all these presents, squeezing them and looking at them and counting... they count them up every few minutes to see how many they've got. But now that they're asleep, I can sort of tell you what we've got them for Christmas. And that is that we... a soccer ball for each, a basketball for each, of course. In some clothes, I got Rachael a gorgeous sort of hot pink corduroy skirt and one of the latest blouses, which has lyrics, though... I got myself one too, can't believe it... with that... lyrics again, it's all done again. And I got her her first pair of tights, so she'll be pretty excited about them. And... and then it was difficult to know what to get Maitland. I'm just going to check what they are... Yes, I believe they are. And anyway, he was always talking about Brian and how he's got a rhinestone jacket. So I decided I'd ring his mother and find out where it came from. But of course, it was one of those very special things that's very old now. He probably came out about the time that the record did. And she said her husband picked it up one time he was in New York on business. So I finally went out and bought his denim suit, and I have just completed sewing 400 rhinestones onto the jacket. Oh, it really looks cute. I put a star on the back, and it has these pretty coloured rhinestones all over it. So he will be on Christmas Day, the rhinestone cowboy. And... otherwise, they've got... I bought all sorts of little bits and pieces. We got Christopher, the little, you know, Ruth's little boy, a radio. It's a Coke bottle. It looks absolutely just like a Coke bottle, but it's a radio. It's really quite cute. And well, what else?

I think something that really astounds me is Maitland's accent is changing so much more quickly than Rachael's. And the other night... you notice that sort of when he's really having a conversation with you. The other night, he had been in trouble on the bus apparently, and Rachael said, "Oh, Matt had to sit up with the bus driver." So I said, "Okay, what's the story?" Because they're not supposed to play up on the bus. But those kids... mate, said Philip makes noise on the bus... that's unbelievable? So we wanted to hear what his explanation was. And he said... he started the... his voice, the accent business has slowed down, you know? And he said, "Well, you know Alex?" And we said, "Yes, we know Alex." He said, "Well," he said, "Alex pushed me." "Pushed me." And so I pushed Alex. And then Alex pushed me. And I thought, "This is good." I said, "Well, this could have gone on for quite a while, Matt." So did the bus driver intervene and ask you to sit with him? But it was Alex pushed me this... And it's just the slowdown of the 'pushed'. And it was when they were getting on the bus. And, oh really, it just cracks me up. And I've noticed that he speaks just like Hugh Shields was... and I were looking at the Christmas tree the other night and going through all the gifts and all the decorations and where they'd come from and so on. Hugh came down and had just finished reading a book and wanted to tell us all about it. And Maitland went off for about half an hour. Beverly and I were sort of on one foot then the other while he explained the details of the life of Frank... Benjamin Franklin or whatever. And Maitland just sounds just so like Hugh now. Of course, he's been here all his life and a bit older.

What else do I have to tell you? Oh yeah, this party went to at Patsy's last Saturday night. We had Gilly to babysit, and she was telling us that Elodie's becoming really naughty. She's really hard to handle. And you know, Ruth's just leaving her with Gilly more and more and more at the weekend. And of course, Gilly does... on babysitting, but she's pretty busy at school, you know? She's at Lovett, which is a private school, and she's... I guess she's 14, so... equivalent to just going to college at home. She has a lot of homework. She likes to babysit and be able to do her homework, but with Elodie, it's just such a handful that she's getting nothing done. And I don't think it's been a weekend since we left Ruth that that kid has not been either on the day here and... or was going... it's just awful. And really, it's just very upsetting. And I went around there one night last week, and Elodie was still... had just gone to bed. She was still awake, and Ruth heard... would you like me to get her out? And I said, "Oh, if she didn't mind," seeing she wasn't asleep. She brought Elodie down, and Elodie sort of looked at me, and she just about leapt out of Ruthy's arms and jumped at me. Well, I held her for about half an hour while we talked, and she just kissed and cuddled me and hugged me and pulled my hair and just went mad. And I went... put her down to have a look at them, and she just leaped up back into my arms. She wouldn't let me put her down. And Ruthy said she'd been having a hell of a time keeping her away from the Christmas tree and the lights and everything. She said, "Look, come, I'll show you." So we went to the lounge, and she said, "She just goes at it and tries to pull the whole damn thing over." So we go into the lounge, and I put Elodie on the floor, and Elodie took one look at the lights, turned straight back, and jumped back into my arms. She wasn't in the least bit interested in the tree. And of course, every time I leave, she just screams her head off. It's just ghastly. You know, we just have to sort of throw her into Ruthy's arms and depart. And you can hear her screaming when you're down the path. So she hasn't forgotten me. That's really very sad, you know, with... must... and it's just the theatre, you know? Ruthy wrote this letter that she sent out, it's called The Stocking Stuffer, then... you letter for Christmas. And she... she, you know, being an editor and everything, she's sort of written it up like a newspaper column, and there's a cartoon imagine, and the cartoon goes that Baby Elodie is having lessons in saying Mama and Papa. All she says is "Bye bye". She relates to her mother as "Bye bye". And you know, it's sort of funny, ha ha. But I don't... I just can't find it funny. And they're making this cartoon up and laughing about it. And, you know, as John said, he doesn't reckon that even their friends think that it's much sharp, even though they all have maids and goodness knows what. You know, that child just gets absolutely no... from day to day... attention at all. It's really pathetic. You ring Ruth up on the phone, and she's screaming at Elodie at the top of her voice, you know, to get out here or there. It's really very sad.

Well, I... I don't think I told you. I hadn't actually met... to get back on to the Olsons. I hadn't met Mr. Olson or Nora. John, actually. And then the other... the day before last day, I was looking for John on the section. It's just about impossible to find anybody here. And I was walking down the driveway, and up came one of the Mercedes, and who's in the front but Mr. and Mrs. And so Susie introduced me to him, whom I was beginning to think that he was Howard Hughes because we hadn't seen hide nor hair of him. I thought he must live in hibernation, but I guess he is just an extremely busy man. And he's a very, very nice looking gentleman and, you know, a real sort of fine looking fellow and extremely nice indeed. So I finally did get to meet the elusive Mr. Elson.

Oh, and before this tape runs out, I want to wish you a very, very happy birthday, Mum, and an early happy birthday for Dad. I hope you have a really happy time, and I just hope so much that Dad will be home for Christmas. The letter I got from them today was written on the Saturday, which I figure must be about the 8th of the month.