That’s why I was eventually driven to buying a wreck at an auction, spurred on by you!!!!!

It was God’s luck that a few days later, on getting out of bed and glancing through the window, in a state of great despair, I saw a couple of travellers with a For Sale sign on their car heading off to the auction, and I was able to rush out and secure it for a nominal sum.

Luck comes into it and it may be you’ll have better luck out of Auckland. Take it as it comes.

Granny sent me a press cutting of some tavellers in NZ who hired a car for three weeks. Around £10 a day, I think. It might be cheaper than three people getting the bus.

Enjoy Nusa. Keep your phone topped up, Jul. Concerning Simon and Garfunkel; Mama was practically weaned on them; I beieve I have their Greatest Hits CD, inherited from Grandpa, somewhere in my extensive collection, which I hereby pass on to you.

I played tennis yesterday for the first time since the winter months, against the James College champion. Conditions were poor; a freakish wind and crappy ball bounce; so, naturally, I prevailed, with my superior ‘luck’. Having defeated Liv at crud the preceeding day, only, according to him, on account of the number of dubious ‘chance’ shots I enjoyed, we had a brief discussion about the way luck works.

I claimed it all evened out in the end; and that everyone eventually got their fair share of both good and bad breaks. He said nay, that was not the way it worked, and proceeded to explain why. He’s probably right; but I couldn’t understand his explanation; so there we left it.

This morning, I woke up feeling as though I had been snapped in twain. My hip bones are on fire and the universal joint in my lower back has seized up. I clearly overdid it yesterday, because after the tennis, I played Jacques at crud, and came close to collapsing from the strain.