Episode 11 - SVW Tapes- 10th May, 1981

"Yeah... 107.8... and a three-year birthday party taking place on Friday night with 94 cent Stroh's beer and kamikazes and free balloons and toys fit for a three-year-old. That's Friday night at the Harvest Moon Saloon. Sunday night at the Harvest Moon Saloon, a full moon party. It's going to be a wild one with 94 cent Miller Lite beer. The costume theme's the Marx Brothers, so keep in mind all these things. Wednesday at the Moon Shadow, Friday at the Harvest Moon, and Sunday at the Harvest Moon, all for you. Harvest Moon Saloon is on Piedmont Lindbergh across from the flea market. Moon Shadow is on Johnson Road just off of Briarcliff near the Seeley Shopping Center, Craig Ashwood."

"94Q."

Well, I think you can guess where Kaysh was from. He's a good old Aussie mate, right? And he's on Q94 here. Always gives a touch of home, or at least from Down Under, when he's on the radio.

Well, it's about one o'clock in the morning, it's Tuesday, the... must be 12th of May. We went to Marsha and Walter's for dinner tonight for the last supper with Sister Marie from... she's from Melbourne. And you can just imagine the fun that they've had the month she's been here, laughing and joking and carrying on. And as they said, they can't even all live in the same country; they all live in different countries. Marsha was born in Canada, but they all were brought up in Harare. Their mother was an opera singer. And this one is married to a guy who's an engineering draftsman or whatever, and he's English, and they live in Melbourne. One lives in New London, course Marshall lives here. So, they're a scattered bunch. And we went over and had beef stroganoff and a beautiful meal with them this evening. It was very nice. And just for the last time, Marsha's sister bought me some delicious mints. We had some mints for our dinner. And funnily enough, you know, I said how nice these were, and her sister was so thrilled that she went away and got me some. I'd done some of her travel arrangements when she'd been here. She'd had a really nice trip. All I did for it really, which... she just went up to Washington for four days, but I got her a very nice hotel. Of course, we were all thinking... $100 bucks a night dinners, what hotels are like in Washington and New York and such like. But finally, I managed to get her into a hotel on Capitol Hill for $54 a night, and turned out that she got a room that was posted on the back of the door as a $90 room. It was overlooking the Capitol building. She could walk to a lot of things from where she was and had two big double beds and four armchairs, and she was just in the lap of luxury. And she went up on her own. Her husband came here with her, but he went on to England, and she just stayed here. She hasn't been too well, so we were a little concerned about how she'd be anyway. She had planned to do an extensive trip by herself but on a tour, but at the last minute, she decided not to do that because of her health. But anyway, she's okay. She has a strange thing though, she's lost all the pigmentation on her skin. So she can't be exposed to even light; you know, ultraviolet affects it very badly. I think it caused skin cancer or something. And she has to have an umbrella with her all the time, which is interesting.

Anyway, we've done a few things with her. She's a nice person, just as mad as Marsha. So we'll get on very well. And the other day we went... we decided to take her... or tomorrow, she's coming briefly to have a look through this house here, but not the cottage. Jack won't take her long, but the big house manager wants to see it. And Susie's going to Tennessee tomorrow because her mother's having an operation, a small cancer operation, and apparently one that they're not terribly worried about. And but last week, Bert Lance's house sold last year, I remember I sent you the clippings of it. Well, this man bought it, and then each year here in the city, the decorators get a house that has either been... not being lived in or whatever, usually mansions. And they get a room each to decorate. So we decided this would... since it was Bert Lance's house and had some gossip value, that we would take her through that. But anyway, it turned out really as a very historic home here. It... they had all the parties for Gone with the Wind at the very house, and Vivian Leigh sat on the floor apparently telling googly-eyed men about her racy stories and such life. And it's a beautiful home. It needs a lot of work doing on the outside, and of course, the land is a lot less than it once was, but... anyway, you know, it must be a year since Bert Lance moved out of it.

And from start to finish, the entire day, it was just hilarious. I met them at 1 o'clock. Marsha had arranged, and I meet them. We left from the Second Ponce de Leon Baptist Church. There was a shuttle service from there. Thank goodness, because there were cars parked for miles. We wished to get the little shuttle bus from the car park there. Well, I got caught in traffic, and I didn't get there till about 1:15. And Marsha jumps out of the car and says, "Well, you're late, and we've missed the bus." And I said, "Well, I'm sorry, I got caught up in the traffic." Now I'm about to give sister Maria tickets, and Marsha... the woman's a week... lease? That you'd given me, such like. And she said, "I left my keys in the car. Locked my keys in the car!"And I said, "Oh my God!" So I run over the car to check if she had locked all the doors and everything. It's only a two-door car. Well, damn me if I actually... the engine's running! Sure enough, she had left the car running and then locked the keys in the car. It was just hilarious from there. We didn't know where we were going first, whether we needed to go to Walter and get a key to the house to get the other set of keys or whatever. But it would have been hard to get in the car. And we weren't really that far from her apartment. So finally, we decided we'd go to the apartment, and Walter usually leaves a spare set of keys at home for the car. And then, of course, Sister Maria, once she knew the car was still running, wouldn't leave the car for some reason. We were laughing, what the hell she was going to do with it. And you can tell Aunt Lil on the way home, I was telling Marsha about Aunt Lil taking me up to Lars's house, and I said to her, "But I can't get through the window!" And she pushes me, says, "Of course you can, of course you can!" Oh, she pushes me through this tiny window. Then Marcia was laughing, said, "That's just the sort of thing that their mother would have done."She never would take no for an answer anyway. We were just in hysterics.

We get to the apartment block, and the office misplaced her key, and then we finally get the car keys, and we get back. Sister Marie's still waiting with the car. The shuttle bus has been by about three times, and everybody on board's in hysterics. And then we get to the mansion. Well, it's five bucks each to go through. So we pay our money and we go through, and of course, it's very exotically, you know, arranged. And of course, it has no continuity because each decorator does the rooms they please. And first of all, Sister Marie has this wretched umbrella, one of those cheap old folding varieties. First of all, the knob drops off, so she's chasing that door over the floor, and we finally catch hold of the knob, and we get back on the umbrella. And then she's got it hanging around her wrist, and the chain breaks off, so the whole umbrella splatters across the floor. Where she kind of gets that together. And the next thing, we're, you know, bounding through rooms at a rate of knots. And of course, all the elite little ladies of Atlanta are there. They're all giving their opinions of the antiques and stuff like, and we're all giving our true opinions of what we really feel, how ridiculous some of the things are. And the next thing, she has one of these handbags with a chain over her shoulder... that broke, and the handbag went all over the floor. By this time, we were just amazed. And then we get up... I hear another something on the floor. I thought it just has to be her. Big gold earring fell out of her ear and rolls across the floor. I mean, it was just hysterical. So we were just three giggling, silly people. And we came to a room... there are 52 rooms in this house, all been decorated. And we come to this room, and there's this man who's taking his job terribly seriously. And he's telling all these people about how wonderful the furniture is and how it all been imported from exotic countries and how valuable everything is. And the table was worth $25,000, and the statue was worth this and that. And we were giggling out in the hall; we couldn't get into the room that he was talking... talking in. And he said, "Would you please pay attention!" like we were in some classroom or something. That just... shouldn't have said that 'cause we were in no state to cope with comments like that. The damage... if we... the house was really, very, very nice, you know, but anyway, there were a lot of things because we didn't like, and that were just totally impractical.

Well, then we get down to... at the very end of the tour, they have a little tea shop, you know, and we all... "Well, have tea." So of course, you know, you what they think of tea? They think of the iced tea. So we all said yes, we'll have tea, please. And the lady said, "Would you like it sweetened or not?" And we said... Marsha and I knew, of course, they meant iced tea. So we said, "No, we want hot tea, please." Oh, that threw them! Complete panic. So they go away, and I... they send me off to get a table outdoors. So I go out, and I'm finding the table. And then they come out, just about keeling over, couldn't hold themselves together much longer. But they had... they said, "Well, that was finally the statement of the day." And I said, "What?" They said the lady behind the counter said that she wished we'd never come in there. First of all, we've been through this beautiful, beautiful mansion, and they start serving us tea in paper cups, which sort of, you know, was a bit of a damper after one would expect at least china teacups having been through this big mansion. They were Delta cups too, from the airline. And she had these long plastic spoons. She'd put the tea bags in, and Marsha told her she didn't want the tea bags left in there because her and I don't take any milk, because we didn't want the tea bags left in there to brew syrup. She couldn't get the tea bags out! They got twined in the spoon, and she couldn't get them out! And the other two ladies... there was no one else in the tea shop at the time, and the other two ladies were just standing staring at this woman and the mother helping. And the more they stared out, the more panic-struck she got, and the worse things seemed to get. And couldn't get the damn tea bags out! And she finally turned to them and said that she wished we'd never ever come into her little tea shop. Joking, of course, but dear, it was a funny day.

And then, of course, I get home, and I was running late because we'd wasted a lot of time with all this keys business. I get home, and I was late. And it was about... was about 10 minutes late, and Sunny'd gone to Clayton for the weekend, so she wasn't home, and Matthew, of course, had gone with her. And the kids are standing at the corner, and I... "What the hell are they doing?" 'Cause they let themselves into the house. You know, they're perfectly capable of coming in and getting themselves out too. They're standing up the corner jumping up and down. And so I get there, and they stop me and jump into the car. And "Oh, we've got baby gerbils, baby gerbils!" And we did! We've got five little baby gerbils! They're just suckling. And you know, we'd read all about them and everything. And of course, you know, it was really funny, and Rachel has been waiting for months for these gerbils to be born, thinking that they were never going to have babies. And she must have been talking to Miss First the other day. She said, "Miss First, I haven't seen the mother gerbil for ages. She never comes outside her little house any more." Miss First said, "Why, Rachel, have you heard any squeaking?" And Rachel said, "Yes." And Miss First said, "Well, you've got babies, of course! Little babies!" And so Rachel comes home... well, damn me if we haven't, of all the damn things! And of course, Rachel goes back to school the next day and told Miss First, "I told you so!" Anyway. So we've got five of them. And we had read that, you know, cannibalism does exist with them, but we also read that it's a lack of vitamins. So we had been putting those special expensive vitamins, $6 a damn bottle, into their water. And hopefully, that will resolve the situation. The other thing is that you can take the male away, but we decided that this was nature, and we would leave the male in there because they seemed real happy together. And sure enough, they're really, you know, taking care of these little babies real well. And Maitland's very excited because they're his little mother that produced these babies. And Rachel claims, "Well, if it hadn't been for her male, they wouldn't have." And the male's taking great care of them too. It's just, you know, they're just darling, and they're wriggling around, and all five are alive, none have died, and isn't apparently any runts at this stage. The runts, I just kick out. So all is going very well with the gerbils. The kids were just beside themselves, and Amanda and Matthew have been up at their grandmother's. Otherwise still today because Lane and Sunny had been away to some historic thing down in Brunswick, on the coast, South Georgia. And they got back tonight, whereas I just couldn't wait to get down and bring them up to see the new gerbils.

Anyway, well, I guess you know, there's a lot to tell you. I can't think really where to begin. Oh, one of the other funny things that happened, bombing through this house. And when we were just in such hysterics, finally, this woman who had been apparently waiting for the bus when Marsha and Marie had first got to it, had came over to us and said, "I'm going to join you two." She said, "You seem to be having so much more fun than everyone else." Marsha's explanation was that everybody's being pseudo-serious and taking the whole thing, you know, terribly... you know how people do with antiques and all that sort of stuff. And especially when they're rattling off these expenses of items and how much Bert Lance had paid for the... somehow Phil had all these family chandeliers sent in from Venice and goodness knows what. Anyway, so... well, going back, wonder if I should cover your tape first. I will, I think. And going back two months later, I have really hadn't covered all that was much dead, having two ones in a row. But I agree, yes, sure, the second $4 should have been the $12,000, but maybe third time lucky. Then, of course, there's Prince Charles' tour, and of course, all the publicity here at the moment is the telephone calls back to Lady Diana and all the gossip. I gather, you know, he did say a few things, but nothing that's of any significance. And the whole thing's been blown out of proportion. Marsha's sister says that they're going very republican over there, and it's sort of the trend, you know, to be almost anti-royalist. Plus, she was very humiliated about the response that he got. One of the universities, I think it was, you know, she was appalled at the way he couldn't even make a speech. Apparently, there was so much trouble going on.

Oh, you asked what a Jacuzzi is. A Jacuzzi's a pool, a whirlpool, you know, that they have, and all the water whirls around. And that's all, nothing all that exotic. Goodness, the old man's home that you were telling me about sounds a real hoot. You're quite right, it's a disgrace. But however, as Dan said, where would the old buggers be if they weren't there? Yeah, I was sorry to hear that you didn't see the space shuttle go off, but we finally didn't either. We all got up early in the morning, woke up about 5 o'clock to especially see it. And John, of course, was away with Graham and Bob at the time. And then, of course, Sunny and I were in communication. I called her, and she said, "We seem to be in a holding pattern." So we decided to rush them off to school knowing that they would all see it at school if it went on. But as it happened, Maitland's teacher didn't let them see it or whatever happened, I don't know. Rachel saw it, did. I would have thought they'd have the TV on all morning, especially since they had the Mayor's budget on TV, which was of great interest, as you can imagine, to the children anyway. And you know, as you said, you saw the landing, and really the landing was just such a precision thing. And it really was a thrill. And it sort of... you saw more of it than you did the big cloud of smoke and the way up on TV anyway. And I think had you gone down there, you'd have been so far away from it, you probably... naturally, you saw more on television, and the coverage was better, and they explained everything too.

Well, of course, the attempt of assassination, I think, just shocked everybody, as all these things have done. There's been a big hue and cry about guns, and Kennedy's back on the bandwagon 'cause he's a big, you know, gun man, or you know, against guns and stuff. And but I think they have... incredible thing having the secretary or whatever is he was, his survived his brain surgery and everything else. And really, I think the whole nation was just thrilled to hear him when he said something about... oh, they wanted to know the doctor's name, and when they told him, and they said, "What do you want to know the doctor's name for?" He said, "Want to know the joke is asking him all these dumb questions," and something which just was fantastic news. But, you know, you've really got to hand it to Reagan, I think. I think I sent you the cutting that Louis Grizzard wrote that kind of said it all.

The royal tour here was like home. That was busy and rushed. The incredible thing was that when I sent Marsha's sister up to Washington too, up on the 1st of May, and that was a Friday, and I said to her, "Now you must see the White House either Friday or Saturday because she was coming back Monday, because it's not open Sunday, Monday." And she was going that Tuesday, I think, anyway. She gets up there, and I said, "Now, you find out about it right away so you can get on the tour to go through it." Of course, Prince Charles was in town; it wasn't open at all. Anyway, one of the tours she did did circle the White House or whatever, and sort of showed them what they could without going in there. And she said to somebody, "Why all these helicopters flying around?" And somebody said, "Oh, it's the security for Prince Charles." And they were just sort of standing there having a look around. I guess they were at Lafayette Park, just across the way. And she said a helicopter bobs down about 50 yards away. Who should jump out but Prince Charles? She was right next to him, just about. So that was fun for her. She really had a good time in Washington. She thoroughly enjoyed it, and saw everything she wanted to see and really crammed in a whole lot of stuff.

Oh, you mentioned the cheques. Of course, we've received them. We've banked them, but we have withdrawn the funds and spent them. I had gotten Maitland this fabulous electronic baseball. And you know, he's just absolutely out of his brain over there because he didn't expect to get it because he'd been gloating over it in the books. And, you know, he saw how expensive it was. And when he woke up that morning, that was all he got. Man, was he excited! He was one very happy little boy. Then we had his party, of course, with 17 little boys. And he really did get a lot of presents, and they were beautiful. And you know, he really had a nice day. They were super little guys, and they're all good friends, and they played baseball, and they swam. Susie had the pool filled only because the MET were coming to sing in the garden and have dinner. And so she got it filled early, which was amazing. But of course, it was pretty cold. They swam, but they weren't in like the whole afternoon because the water was a little cold. And it had just been done like a couple of days before. They just finished chlorinating it and stuff. But...

The cheques... you mentioned the funny business about they wouldn't give you three cheques. Well, I laughed because when I turned that cheque over to countersign it or, you know, sign the thing on the back, they... I don't know whether they've got a copy of the cheque even because the carbon paper had been back to front. So the carbon was on the back of the cheques. So they may have their record of you having added a cheque. So you might mention that to the obligor at the bank. But anyway, Maitland's party went off real well. We had it from one to five on the... must have been the Sunday, the 3rd of May. And it was the same day Susie had the MET here. And they all came at one o'clock. And what they do first is they all played baseball, and he was just in his element. And we'd bought him a baseball bat and ball. He had a glove, and he's just mad on baseball at the moment. So they all played baseball, and then they went swimming. And then they came back and went... just an American, you know, easy way out, the American way: hot dogs and popcorn and lots of ketchup and mustard, of course. And it was funny because Shane, one of his little friends whose father's big in Coca-Cola, and who... Maitland's assessment of admiration runs that they have Coke on tap like you do in the bars. And if, you know, just done one of those, you just push a button to tab, or Tabs, the diet free, or Sprite, which is like lemonade, or 7-Up, whatever of the Coke runs, and he has them home, and you just push the one you want. And there's a spray thing like one of those things you have in the sink, you know, to clean the dishes. And anyway, but Shane's got something wrong with him. He's very slow. He forgets everything. Just forgets. I mean, he forgets to tell his mother he's got a report in his bag. He just forgets everything. And he's very, very tall, a lot taller than any other kid in the class. And apparently... well, she explained it to me the other day that... it was a weird explanation, but he has a brain allergy. And at the moment, they have him on this very rigid, strict diet to check all his allergies and see if this food's affecting him. And apparently it does. Food affects him, and they've got to take him off all these things. Well, he wasn't allowed to have any hot dogs or anything as far as that went. She bought him some yogurt, plain yogurt, an apple, and she said he had to have those. And he was being pretty good about it, and he would have them. But I said, "Well, she... kid... have a hot dog?" And she said, "Well, I guess he could have one, but he mustn't have the bread." So anyway, the time came for the hot dogs. And he said to me... "Are these all-beef hot dogs?" And I said, "I don't know whether they're all beef," because you know, anything like hot dogs or anything, you just really don't know what's in them. He said about three times, "Are these all-beef hot dogs?" Well then, I come into the kitchen, and we've got little Adam Sullivan, who's just as cute as can be, one of Maitland's little friends, who's got chestnut, sort of red hair, dark reddish, you know, beautiful hair. And of course, he's Jewish. His father's the head of the cardiac unit down at Piedmont Hospital. And both Adam, who's in Rachel's class... I mean, Joel was in Rachel's class, and Adam's in Maitland's class. The two brothers are very studious types. I've told you about Joel before; he's not very athletic. He always asked me if he can be scorekeeper when we're up down PE. And anyway, Adam is just real cute and very intelligent, and all in the class call him Detective Silverman because he studies things. I mean, he thinks he's a detective. And anyway, he came out to me, and he said to me, "Are these hot dogs kosher?" And I said, "Well, no." "Doesn't matter, Adam?" And he said, "Oh no," he said, "but I just like to know. Are they kosher?" And I said, "Well no, I don't think they are." And he said, "But that's okay." And I laughed. Kosher hot dogs? My hot dogs had to be this and the other thing. Getting real fussy. But little Adam... he didn't sort of... he's not into baseball much. So he... I found him out on the back step. We keep a key in a magnetic tin, you know, we just poke it up a drainpipe. And he'd found the key. And he'd kicked... we always have to... oh, it's actually the... the banister of the handrail to get up to the house. And it's just a tube, and we just stick it up there. And we kick it, and it drops out. So well, we want it. And he'd discovered this. And he kicked his kids... out. And I'm looking at him, thinking, "Now, what the hell is he doing?" And he's staring at this key. And I said, "Adam, what are you doing?" And he said, "I'm memorizing this key." And I said... I didn't like to be so ignorant as to ask why. And he said, "I've memorised 10 of them." I said, "Well, that's interesting." And I felt like saying, "Well, I hope you find a use for these things shortly." And he said, "Very interesting." He sounded like Dr... Oh, was... our doctor's not anyway... Poirot? So anyway, sometime later, I'm out hanging up all our wet towels on the line, and Adam comes back out again, and he kicks the pipe to make the key drop out, and he says, "Well, back to the drawing board." He gets the key out again, and then he comes up to me. He's standing staring at the key and staring at the lock, and he says, "This is a very interesting case." And I said, "Why?" And he said, "Well, this is a... I don't know... an 'I' key or something. And this is an 'H' lock. Not compatible. Interesting. But somehow it works." Like Maxwell Smart. But he apparently... when his mother came, I was telling her, she's just a very, very nice... she's a real lady, a very sort of fine woman, you would call her, very nice. And I was telling her about him, and she said, "Oh, I know, he's just awful." She said at home he has these lists of fees that he charges for his... for his cases. And he's Detective Silverman, and he has... it's 25 cents an hour for a regular case and 50 cents an hour for the more difficult cases. We took him out kite flying one day. And anyway, we were on the way home and, you know, his parents are not without a few bob, I shouldn't imagine. And he said, "Oh," he had to be home at a certain time because they were going out for dinner. And he said... "Oh," we said... "Oh, like we're going out with my grandfather tonight." And he said, "I like that." And we said, "Oh, that's nice, Adam." And he said, "Yes, I... I have a rich grandfather. My grandfather's very rich." We were laughing. And he said, "He gave me a silver dollar. He gives away silver dollars." He's just adorable.

Anyway. So the birthday party went off without mishap. And then, of course, that night was the... we had the Metropolitan Opera here, which was fascinating. And they were all dressed up to the nines, as you can imagine, wandering around the pool, and the food was that of any castle. And John was chief chauffeur and rushing up and down the path with all these people. There were about 100 people there. Anyway, it's funny because we've often laughed that he only uses the Toyota to drive these people down the drive, you know, when you think that they could use the Mercedes. The Rolls Royce would hold a lot more people, but they never do. Anyway, the other night, he's been up and down the drive a couple of times already, and Eddie... he comes running out and says, "Oh, John, John, oh, I forgot... forgot to tell you." He said, "Tonight, I'd like you to use the... the gold Mercedes." So John had to swap cars right there and then. Obviously, he has some standards. Anyway, John, course... most of these people... And I think I told you in the letter that one woman said traveled Australia and New Zealand nine times on tour, and it was really quite a night, I imagine. Quite... actually, we had a big, big thing, and Bev wrote this week because I sent you a clipping of Mr. Braswell, and of course, he's so much younger. And last Friday night, Muhammad Ali was there for their fundraising for cerebral palsy. And that was the night that he announced that he's giving $400,000 to the children's fund. You probably had publicity of it being that Muhammad Ali is so popular. But he said that the $100,000 that was being offered was pathetic, that you couldn't even buy a Rolls Royce with $100,000, and said he was giving $400,000. You've got to admit the man is generous, whether or not it's... there has been some comment that that would just entice small sort of... calls and funny calls. But, you know, I don't know. I mean, if $100,000 doesn't get some information, I don't suppose $500,000 will either, but it's certainly tempting. And what I didn't realize was that the $100,000, of course, is now, as the cases build, it's only whatever information you give leading to one, two, or three cases. It's a percentage job. And even the $500,000 worked out at only $18,500 per case kind of thing if you were only to give information on one case. So... I imagine that information though, when it does come in, will relate to many of them. It seems that many of them have been done by one person.

But you asked if there was any truth in the fact that some of these children were murdered by the parents. And I believe that there is truth in that; that's been blown out of proportion. But at the same time, prior to us all being added up this way, these people from these very low socioeconomic groups, and these are the lowest, you know, these people are very poor, there was always, you know, apparently the statistics are that 9 or 10 children go missing or murdered every year anyway. So, you know, this is a little normal. There was also an article in the paper this weekend, huge one, that there is some guy that's a priest that runs some runaway children's place. He claims there's as many as two million children missing in the United States at any one time. And there's definitely, you know, just hundreds of thousands of children run away every year and aren't located because if they cross state lines, there's nothing they can do about it. So you know, it's a very complicated and difficult thing.

Then, of course, there was the other thing about... I think I mentioned to you about the white homosexual thing that... which has just been gross and sick and horrible, where these kids were being put into the witness box and couldn't even open their eyes to tell the terrible things that they'd been up to and had to do. And of course, it's because they're so poor, well, they do it for money. And that has been going on, they think, for 20 years, and it's very, very widespread, and it's very, very big and very organized, and there are no black people involved in that. That's all white people. So you know, different thing again from this murder business. I still feel it's got to be a black person that's doing it because these kids, as from such poor... they really, really see a white person. But you know, when you're taking these little kids for PE and you see these little... always see these kids, well, because they've met... a few older ones lately, but generally, they've been half-wits, you know, or whatever, and small builds. So mostly they could have been mistaken for younger children, but it seems that somebody knows that they're half-wits or whatever. But when you see these little kids playing on PE, these little black kids, you know, they're just so cute, and it just breaks your heart to think that this is going on. And they certainly must be frightened. But I... I think I might be about to run out on this tape, but you know, they've got this... who is it? Who's the black comedian? Bill Cosby is the cartoon character in a new book that they've got out called... it's a child safety book, you know, "Don't speak to strangers," "Never eat candy," and all that general thing. It's a coloring book, but put out in every single kid in every school that wants one. Well, Maitland came out the other night... I thought to Marsha, Marsha and sisters never going to understand this most... when I were in hysterics, but you know, she's going to think... and well, she told people were saying, "You're not going to Atlanta?" Like, she was going to have to be locked... I wasn't so frightened to go out, you know. And she's never going to understand when... Well, Yoho, Yoho! This is side two. And I was just going to tell Maitland came out and said, "Hey, Mom, where's my murder and missing children's colouring book?" And honestly, we just... I just about curled up. I mean, I couldn't laugh in front of him, but Sunny and I were just laughing. And Sunny said 'cause, you know, they found so many in the Chattahoochee just recently. And Sunny were saying, "Oh yes, well now here's a nice colouring... here's one lying on a bank, or just colour this one now." I mean, it was just terrible. But you know, it's become just to such horrendous proportions. Marsha and Walter took Sister Marie to visit a friend of theirs who lives on the Chattahoochee. And I was talking to her Dad or two later, and she was saying, "Oh, we had a lovely time, you know, their friend's place, and we all sat down by the river for the afternoon and just sat out in the sun drinking..." Guess what we were waiting for? Bodies to float by! But of course, I mean, people just... there's been so many bodies just floating down the river that, you know, one expects... you can be literally sitting out having a Sunday afternoon drink and see a damn body float by. It's just terrible.

Well now, getting back to a bit of your letter, the floods sound like they've really been bad. I guess there's been a lot of losses and things. You've probably read about this thing they called... they call it sinkhole or something in Florida where the land just drops away. They use so much of the water underneath, and then all of a sudden land just... they lost six Porsches down it this weekend, and it just seems to be continuing on. It's just a phenomenal thing. It must be amazing to see. And you've got the Springbok tour going on there at the moment. I was interested to see Father headlines again and Margaret Hayward. I haven't completely or thoroughly read that clipping yet, but it doesn't say that she wrote the book. I lost sort of track of who wrote the book and what it's called. It's not about... I messed up anyway. Anyway, you mentioned that Margaret Hayward wrote the book, and I know her very well. She was in Zonta, and I can't remember whether she was secretary when I was president or what, but I knew her pretty well. And she was definitely in Zonta when he died, and I can't remember what she did after he died because, of course, she was out of a job. And that's probably why she wrote a book. I mean, that's always a good way of earning a few bob if you can do it. But she was really quite a nice person; I always quite liked Margaret. She's a nice person.

Anyway, Social Credit... they are taking over the other party, but I never did understand their party politics. I don't know, have they changed or what? Frank Gill was the name that you were searching for, the idiot they sent to Washington. And my guess is still there. I'm going to have a look around the gold dust tomorrow. I'll ring a couple of printers. Well, the CAT tests seem to have done okay. We haven't had the results back yet, but as you said, Father covered it well, that if they have not done as well, it's because they weren't feeling well that day. Well, that completely clears them of any guilt or whatever. But the funny thing is, they've tested Maitland to go into this First Class, and he was just so funny. He was really excited about being tested. God, I hope he gets into her class because he really wants to be in there, and I guess it's sort of a status somewhere. But I've explained to him that really doesn't matter; it's just for a certain child that might like to be... he may well... yeah, if he doesn't get in there, it's probably because he'd be really much happier in his own middle class. But if he does, well, there's a lot of hard work and extra work he'd have to do. But of course, when you've put old sister in there, it's kind of, I suppose, hard for him to think that he's not in there or something. And he sees all the extra things that she does that are fun, and they go on field trips and things that the other kids just don't do. Something because they have to... Rachael being in there, they have to complete their own work plus her work, and you know, there's a lot of hard work involved. But anyway, if the criteria for the test is on the result of one question that he told me the other day, I'm afraid we may well not have passed the test. I'm glad he's asleep out; I'd hate him to hear me telling you. He said to me... he's been over the day... he's kind of remembering different things that he had to do. It's mostly jigsaw puzzles and, you know, IQ type things. But they asked weird questions. Well, he thought they were weird. He said, "She asked me some words, and did I know what they meant?" I didn't know what they meant. And of course, it's pointless asking a kid that didn't know what a word meant what the word was because you can't even remember if you didn't know what it was, you didn't remember what the word was. So I said, "What did they sound like?" And he couldn't... "Haven't you ever heard Daddy and I use them?" And he said, "No." And I said, "No, well..." So I didn't know what those words were. But then all of a sudden, he came up with this: he said, "One of the questions was, they asked me where bacon came from." And I said, "Yes?" And he said, "Well, I didn't know." I couldn't believe it! I mean, my astonishment was so great. And I said, "You didn't know?" And he said, "No, I didn't know where bacon came from." Oh my God! So I said, "Where does pork come from?" And kind of looked at him. Oh my God! Heaven! But here we are, eats bacon all the time, he didn't know where it came from! And I guess, you know, unless you've been told, you don't know. Well, I was telling Miss Bagel, his class teacher. I said, "I do hope the... he doesn't get judged completely on the one question, Miss Bagel." And she laughed and she said, "Well, there's another one." She said, "It's where does milk come from?" And she said, "It might sound funny, but 90% of the kids say from the supermarket." And that's true, they're not wrong. But she said, "You know, at least they've been on a farm and had milk squirted at them out of a dead cow's udder if they didn't really know."

Anyway. In the meantime, we go on. We're all flat out with all our different activities. Talking about schooling though, Charles, the oldest Elson boy, has finished his whatever degree or whatever he was doing at Harvard, or his basic whatever he went there for. And now he's been offered a medical... a PhD there. And he doesn't know whether... it wasn't a medical... a PhD at Harvard, which only six people get invited to do, and he's one of them. But he can't decide because it's six years, or he could just go ahead and do a law degree, which will take him another three years. And she was getting angry with him because she said unless Charles can see in his crystal ball 20 years down the road, he kind of, you know, can't make a decision. And they really wanted him to do the PhD. And apparently, he was telling John the other day, said they used to laugh about people being professional students, but he said, "I, you know, sort of feel like I really don't care if they boys are professional students now." And you know, with their kind of money, you know, what? Why not? You might as well be... go to these schools and off to Eton and all the stuff. Won't bother having a job; they don't really need the money, so they might as well get the best education they can. But anyway, it was funny. John was at the house the other Saturday, and he heard Susie on the telephone. And that's sort of funny to hear... you don't really know how the millionaires talk to their children. They're very refined people, you know, they speak very nicely. And actually, Eddie called when I was staying there that when Bob and Graham were away, and he would have one of the nicest speaking voices I've ever heard, really. It's just... he's just an absolute gentleman and just a beautiful, smooth sort of voice, and no real accenting does... the Jewish people often don't have. And I guess, you know, sell a lot on the telephone, and it's part of his job, but he's just got a really nice... he's a lawyer himself anyway. So I was going to tell you... So no, no. Well, Susie was on the phone. John didn't know which kid she was talking to, but anyway, she said, "Well, you're just a spoiled little brat," and hung up on him. And John thought it was a bit nice to hear her talk like that, but she's just a normal mother, I suppose, called them spoiled little brats, which I suppose they are.

Anyway. And... Oh yes, well, and your new wardrobe sounds wonderful, doesn't it? Pleased. And they all thank... can I...? But I guess it's certainly the best way to go. It's an investment. It's far better to get a whole bunch of things at one time and leave it at that. But maybe there'll be a little extra money by the time the springtime pops around to have something to step out in, a new springy fashion. On the size of the children's feet, well, Granddaughter Rachel has for sure got the same size as you just recently here. And I bought some Dr. Scholl's, you know, the sandals? She wanted some, and I did, and they were on sale at Reed's Supermarket. It was about $6 off, so I got two pairs. Well, damn me if she... her foot's a lot narrower than mine... if she fits into a six, and I take a seven. And so she has got a big foot, tutsi... what's it? Very long, slim foot. She's got real long legs, and... where the hell she got long legs from, Mum, I'll never know because they shouldn't come from me, and John's got short legs, so I don't know. She's got real long legs anyway.

I was going to get to the spending of the money too. I bought this fabulous... it's some turquoise nuts made of Czech glass, and it's got four raffles? And I drew you a picture of it, but it's really nice. And I bought a pink... bright, bright pink belt to go with the turquoise belt that's with it and some pink, bright pink flowers to wear, you know, sort of tied on it. It was real nice. And probably your money has gone towards... I may get her something else as well, but Rachel needed... she's in the chorus, they're doing the school... are doing Mary Poppins for... or they put it on at other schools at the end of the year, and they're going to take it to Holy Innocents, the school, and perform up there. And she's in the chorus, and they all have to wear blue skirts and white long-sleeved blouses. Well, the question is, where do you buy a white long-sleeved blouse at this time of the year? I just couldn't get one anywhere. I just went everywhere. Finally, I just was... you know, the last resort would have been Matthew, you had an Oxford cloth shirt, the boys won. But she knew damn well the buttons were on the wrong side, and she wasn't happy about that at all because that's what the boys in the band and that wear. The girls will have a white Oxford cloth too, but you know, they look different because the buttons are on the other side. Well, finally at JCPenney's, I mean, they're $21. I mean, they're pure cotton, you know, Brooks Brothers' best. And finally, at JCPenney's, I managed to get one, and it wasn't pure cotton, which I think is better anyway, and it's got a bit of polyester in, and it won't be such a pain to iron. And I got it for $10. But I couldn't get her a navy skirt. I mean, you know, everything's like you said, the purples and the plums and the pinks and turquoises this year, and they're all the spring and summer colours now, and navy just wasn't in at all. I could not get her a navy skirt anywhere. So finally, I went into... she's such a big kid, you know, she fits into a 12-year-old sort of, you know, bathing suit and stuff like that, just in the length of her body. And she's not thin, you know, and she's sort of got a pot... sort of got a pot tummy and pokes her stomach out, and she really is very long in the body. And I just couldn't get her anything. So I went into... they have the size here called Preteens. It's like between the, you know, the teenager's clothes and the kids'. She's in that ghastly in-between stage. And I got her size three, I think it was, skirt, which, of course, I had to cut six inches off, but it's very nice. It's tailored, and it's got a little blue belt goes with it, with carriers, and it's got an open pleat down the front. And I cut six inches off it and hemmed it up all again and made it nice. And she wore that last Saturday. We had the play at the school, at the art school on the Saturday, and we had to play our violins, and it was very exciting. And then they had a... a play that some of the other... they had all kinds of things. There was an art exhibition, and there was drama, and there was all sorts of pieces going on. But then they had a grand sort of thing of this main play that they did, which was written by one of Ted Turner, Channel 17 people, called 'Disney Alive' or something. And it was sort of all the little Disney tales all mixed up together. And the overall thing was that Dumbo couldn't fly the elephant, and they finally got him to fly in the end. But there were a lot of kids from Jackson in it, and it was excellent. All their costumes, and it was just fantastic. And the guy that runs all this art school, he's bribing these kids, saying, "Now, come on, when they ring me up and want someone for an advertisement, month, you know, I want your kids to be able to get the job, and you've got to do work." And he's bribing them with all this threat of working. But anyway, this summer, you know, he's going to be running a production of Oliver that I've got the kids signed up for. They'll spend the whole summer at the art school, both of them, and at the end of the summer, they'll produce the Broadway show Oliver. So that should be a lot of fun. But we had a nice day at the Arts Festival at the school. This was at Northside High School. Then she's got to do Mary Poppins with the choir school, plus she's also in Tom Sawyer. And then, of course, we've got the school... I mean, the Holy Innocents is going on their trip, which is to Cumberland Island this year and St. Simons and Sea Island, all the best resorts in the country. And I'm hoping I'll be able to go along on that. Oh dear, gather they've got more than sufficient chaperones. And you remember last year when they went to the Grand Ole Opry, told Father Bob didn't go with them, but he came and kissed them all goodbye and blessed them all and prayed for them and everything else. And he said, "Well, bring me something back." And remember they brought him back the picture of Dolly Parton, and he had it up on the back of the door. And he had all the clergy to visit them, turn round, saw Dolly Parton with the big boobs on the back of the door. I think this year they decided that he might be better to go with them so he could supervise. So they're taking Father Bob with them this year. They all pleaded, "Would he come?" And so Father Bob's going to get on that little vacation with them to Cumberland down one.

Anyway. What else? I went to church with Rachel on Sunday. It was Mother's Day service. It was very nice. All the kids joined... the Ki choir joined the folk mass choir. Of course, we had that delicious bread, which I thought of you while we were munching on our homemade bread. And the service was quite interesting. The minister was telling us about how the doors of the church were always open 24 hours a day, which, of course, is quite unusual these days, especially in this city of crime. But Holy Innocents... and he made a big point of telling us that this was not going to change in the immediate future. As far as they were concerned, they wanted the doors of the church to remain open all the time. But one man did not know that the doors were open, and he'd broken through a leadlight window in the roof of the church, and he came in, and he did have... got a sort of nuisance damage. And of course, he said he didn't affect us because the things that he wanted were not the things that we treasure because they were the holy things, and the holy things aren't of any value to anybody else, sort of thing. And he went on about it, you know. But he said that poor, unfortunate man did not realize that he could have walked in the doors. There was no need to break in through the leadlight and climb down into the building.

Well, El Patsy Poo remains in business yet another week. I don't know how long for. They might come and take her away any day. She's just as mad as Knox, but you know, I'm really having fun on this computer. It's fantastic. And of course, the weekend St. Louis is great, and I can't be sorry about that because it's definitely a great experience. Learning so much about the airlines here is a great advantage as to getting a job later, I should imagine. I don't know what you... I might have put it to, but hopefully, some... So I'm really feeling quite at home with the computer now. I've studied the book pretty thoroughly, and I can do most things on it. There's an awful lot of information that I don't use and don't have time to use, but it would be nice to just study, you know, and I'm not busy. I like to play around and find things out. But it's just amazing. I mean, you get ski reports from all over the country, all the shows in New York, you know, all this useless information. But it's really nice too, and you can book hotels and cars and, oh, it's just amazing what you can do on it. And we were really enjoying using it. The girl... the other girl in the office that works there, she's a young girl, she's getting married this Saturday. So we're all busy, busy with her wedding coming up. Weddings here are just ridiculous. They, you know, cost thousands. And do you know, they have a bridesmaids' lunch, and they have a dinner, the dinner the night before, which is for the wedding party, the rehearsal dinner? She says it like it's such a normal thing. The rehearsal dinner. And that is very common, you know? Everybody else didn't even bat an eyelid when she said rehearsal dinner. They all... you immediately ask, "What do you mean, the rehearsal dinner?" She said, "Well, you have to have the dinner the night before for the rehearsal." And that is costing... I mean, it's just ridiculous. Just for the bridal party to all eat out, and everybody... all the hangers-on come and have dinner, and they're having filet mignon and God knows what. I mean, it's just amazing. So I guess that wedding will be setting her father back... They had a thing... T... in Africa? There's a lot of weddings on at the moment, being the spring and summer. And that the average wedding around town last year cost four and a half thousand dollars. It's just ridiculous, I suppose, they talk country clubs and things, but you know, that's what they do because these people really go all out for weddings. Anyway, Patsy went off to Germany last weekend and picked up a Mercedes, I think, for her father this time. So Germany was hit by the mad woman.

"Hello, Nana and Grandad. Guess what? Last Thursday, Jerbil had little babies. And the reason I found out is because when I went to school, I said to Mrs. First..." "...'The mother gerbil has been in the house so long.' And Mrs. First said, 'Have you heard chirping?' And I said yes. And then she said, 'Well, you've got little baby gerbils!' The first day we found out the mother had them, we looked at them, and there were five of them. And the mother was tossing them around like they were just tissue paper. But then she started taking care of them. And when she wanted to go and eat or play on the wheel, the father would sit on them and look after them. He normally sits on them the most. They were probably about an inch long." "...Their tails are probably about a centimeter, and their whiskers are not even a part of a centimeter. They're so small, and they're the cutest things. They're pink on their stomach and then a blackish purple on the back of them. And they're very cute. And she looks after them. And I went to school and made an announcement that anyone that brings a note from their parents can have one." "...And so people all raised their hands, but then the next day and continued on for about three days, no one ever bought a note. So today, I told a girl on my bus about them. She's been wanting a gerbil, and she's allowed one. So she said she's gonna bring a note, and she'll probably be able to get a gerbil. Last Friday, I went shopping with my mother. She picked me up from school, and we went to get an Oxford cloth shirt and a navy blue skirt because I was..." "...going to be in the chorus for Mary Poppins and Tom Sawyer. And we're going to Holy Innocents to do Mary Poppins May 20th." "...And I'm going to have to memorise all our music, and some people haven't memorized it. I have to memorize the music for Tom Sawyer, and I've memorized my part because I'm in Tom Sawyer. And Mrs. Gleason, the music teacher, she said there's not a stage at Holy Innocents, so we won't be able to take scenery..." "...except for the two beds that go in the nursery." "...So it was just going to be up to us acting and with what we're wearing. It's past 11 o'clock Eastern Time this morning as Pope John Paul II was on his way to a regular Wednesday audience with about 15,000 waiting to see and hear him in Saint Peter's Square at the Vatican." "...The Pope was shot. We're now told three bullets pierced his body." "...The Pope immediately was sped back into the Vatican foot inside an ambulance and taken to the hospital, and surgery was begun to pro..." "...40 minutes after the Pope was shot. Robert O'Miller just reporting from Rome, quoting Italian television and radio as saying that the surgery took three hours." "...It involved the much surgery on the Pope's intestinal area, and according to the doctors as quoted by correspondent Miller..." "...there is hope for the Pope's condition. The condition looking good for Pope John Paul II." "...The suspect being detained by Italian authorities described as a Turkish terrorist by some others, though, say the suspect has given various nationalities, and we're not entirely sure yet..." "...who he is. And at last report, there is only one suspect involved here. No word or confirmation of earlier reports that other suspects may have been involved in the attack. Two women were shot today in the attack on Pope John Paul II. One is being identified by police in Italy as Anne Audre, age 60, from Buffalo, New York, and the other woman, Rose Hall, a native of Jamaica. Both those women hit by bullets, and there are conflicting reports as to the condition of Ms... the woman from Buffalo. One report says she is critically wounded, the other saying she was shot." "...But again, to repeat, the condition of Pope John Paul II is said to be good following three hours of surgery today for removal of three bullets." "...The Pope is now recovering, and we will expect further reports to come from the hospital in Rome where he was taken today." "...This has been a live special report from ABC News." "WGST time 3:40."

Well, it's now Thursday, the 14th of May. If I don't get this done this morning, I may never get it away. And the Pope, of course, is doing fine as of this morning, I gather. And having been shot six times, isn't it unbelievable? We were in the middle of a luncheon yesterday for Angela, who's getting married on Saturday in the office. Patsy was being held for ransom down at the IRS, and she got back in the middle of our luncheon and came in absolutely hysterical. Number one because the IRS had asked how much she had in her pocketbook... probably how much head in her pocket... and the other thing that came in with the news that the Pope had been shot in his Popemobile. I mean, the kids really thought that was cute. But one just wonders where it's all going to end. And this guy shouldn't have been out on the loose either, I gather. So really, whatever next? We had a busy day at work yesterday too, with all this Pope stuff, and the office was wild as usual. And I had to do two tickets. They have these unlimited mileage tickets, you know, that you can just do as much as you like in 21 days when your first day doesn't count, so it's really 22 days. And these two guys are forever doing it. This particular ticket had 66 legs each, 66 stops, you know. And I finally did that, and I was just... this ticket is worth $567 each they have to pay. You have to buy a minimum of two tickets. And I worked it out last night that just on one person, that's $9,800 on normal coach travel, which is, you know, not first class, economy. And so it would have been nearly $20,000 ticket for a little over $1,200, which is unbelievable on the work that goes into it. The number of tickets alone costs a fortune. Every time we punch a ticket out on this computer, it costs 20 cents. And of course, you know, that's your invoices and everything, anything that you don't use. So it's an expensive machine to run, but you know, Patsy, she loves gadgets, the big ones.

Well, what else is news? Marsha's sister leaves today for Los Angeles and for Melbourne tomorrow. She comes through... she's got two stops, one in Honolulu and one in Auckland. And what else has been happening? Oh, I got your birthday card yesterday, postmarked 27th of April, arrived 13th of May. I just can't make this mail out. Sometimes I get things real quick, and sometimes I don't. And I also yesterday got a letter from Lozzie. I don't know what date that was postmarked because, of course, Bob put it through the franking machine at work. But she was in hospital, and I'd written to her, and I'm glad I got the letter to her before she went to hospital. It was sort of for her birthday. I was a bit late for her birthday, but it was obviously before she went to hospital. She went in the May holidays, and they removed her womb, I think, and her cervix or some area around there. And she said everything else was in fine order, and no problems with her liver or her bowel or anything. So she was very happy, and they said she was making remarkable recovery and was doing real well. She seems, you know, pretty happy anyway with the whole thing. And I was so pleased just to hear that she was okay. They're still living in Hamilton, of course. Don't think there was any other news much. She said there's a problem at school. She said the way the kids are carrying on because both the boys are in college, it's hard to believe. She said the way the kids are carrying on with this Pakeha Maori fraction at school, she said, "I believe we'll be back to Maori war in another 10 years." The other thing she said was... I told her that, you know, we weren't all locked in our houses scared to go out here in Atlanta, not to be concerned. And she was glad to hear that. She reckoned that the police in... Most of the police in New Zealand... What's that? I'll just have to hear it in Lozzie's words. She's just got the same old sense of humor. She said she was glad that we were all okay here because we'd certainly had our share of bizarre publicity. It's no wonder so many Yanks... something or other shouldn't... Anyway, oh, so many Yanks shouldn't carry guns, et cetera. Mind you, things ain't all that sweet in Godzone, and the way the kids carry on with this Maori Pakeha fraction at school, we will be back to the tribal wars in another decade or so. It is... I think... I think half the police is detailed to Black Power, and most of the other half sniffing out drugs, which only leaves a few to protect the citizens from the normal rapists, murderers, and thieves. Well, must close now. Isn't that typical of Lozzie? So things are pretty much the same everywhere.

Of course, there was here, as far as the murder thing goes, another kid is missing this morning, which will bring it up to 28. And of course, there's one body that's still not been found, but the one that was found two days ago, well, earlier this week, I guess it was, is a little bit different to the others, puzzling because he had been asphyxiated, which is the pattern, and he was poor, he had a police record and had been to detention centres, etc. But he was asphyxiated, and then he had been stabbed several... stabbed several times, which has not been part of the pattern. Anyway. Well, I guess we'll find somebody that says that it's been God's will that these poor children shouldn't suffer any longer or something, a bit like the Yorkshire Ripper.

While the gerbils are all alive and doing well again this morning, and the kids are still very excited about them. When they're three weeks old, we have to wean them and take them out so that they can be... we have to divide the sexes up and so on and so forth. And we'll have to start giving them away at that stage.

Well, everything's sort of coming to an end for the end of the year, and school finishes on the 5th of June. We've got the sports day is now going to be the second of June. Rachel's going to Sea Island and Cumberland Island with the choir the end of the month. I hope to go too, but they... I think may have too many chaperones, which is a shame because I really wanted to get over there, maybe be able to go, I'm not sure yet. Oh, we've got the performing... Macbeth and Midsummer Night's Dream are being done by the fifth graders right now because they graduate, if you please, this year. And then they go to Sutton Middle School for three years before they go to Northside High School. And so they're doing those, and they've done a real good job of it. Maitland's been in a puppet show, and I went and saw that the other morning, and they've been performing that every morning this week. And then, of course, Rachel's got her two, you know, Mary Poppins and Tom Sawyer. We've got two more weeks of soccer. Two more Saturdays, and then they finish soccer. And he's going to continue to take Judo. He just loves Judo, just loves it. And he looks cute in his gi. And I've got... just got some photos back of him in that, and I'm going to get a big one done to sort of match that one of Rachel in her gown, a blow-up, small but anyway, for you to go with that because he really looks cute in it. And it's been taken when the dogwoods were out, so there's some pictures of dogwoods there. The dogwoods were just beautiful this year, but the heat came, and then funnily enough, we've had what they call it... Blackberry winter. And it's... I guess it's the opposite to an Indian summer. And we've had cooler weather. In fact, it really got quite cold, you know, for us. The wind... and then it was just starting to get hot. We hadn't sort of been sunbathing or anything, but then it just got really hot, like into the 90s. And then all of a sudden, it dropped back. It's been like 40 at night. We've all been frozen. We've had to have our heating on again, just for a couple of nights, but it's going to heat up again today, but there's thundershowers, thunderstorms expected this afternoon. Time of year again. Well, everything's all green, and the leaves are all out and thick and looking pretty good. And I think that's about all the news. I hope you're all well and looking forward to not too severe a winter, I hope. I'll send you the children's foot sizes because I guess it would be nice to have some... Mum?