Dru, Steinbeck and the Book of Deer

Dear Juliet Just in case, I'd better mention I put a plan together. I don't know if it'll work, but it exists and I'll try to check it. That's all I'll say. I'm on Timshel Territory once again and it's your life. Okay, I had my last ultrasound today and my last appointment at New Cross is on 20th October. I might go back to London last week of September and I might also have to go to Seattle next April. Now, a helpful thought. "In sixty years I've left a lot of tracks,"  Steinbeck said in 1962. And so, I suppose, has Dear Miss Landau . The thing is, I don't keep quiet about Seattle because I'm trying to be silly or secret or juvenile or clever. I keep quiet about it because I was asked to do so, and because it is a sacred obligation. In fact, it's in the same vein as an informal absolution. A bit like this . There could have been, there could still be, a Dear Miss Landau II, or even III. There are a lot of tracks, or threads, a...

Dear Juliet Sorry, still a bit shattered so this'll be a brief one. Same point, though. No matter how hard you try to control things, life will always get in the way. I'd had that great holiday at Point Lobos in 2023, and I was booked on Alaska Airlines back to Seattle for my connection to Heathrow. I was really looking forward to leaving the Hyatt at a decent hour, looking like a dignified, civilised gentleman traveller... And then the rotten swines moved the flight, leaving me unable to make the Seattle connection. Instead, I had to get a United flight at the crack of dawn. A very kind local taxi driver called Pastor Barrozo helped me out. He usually picked up the United pilot early on and just added me to his route. I thanked him a lot, cursed Alaska Airlines in five different languages and simply swore I'd never fly with them again. I'm quite pleased I made that vow. A door fell off one of their planes over Portland a few short months later... So that's it real...

Dear Juliet This was going to be an urbane meditation on the impossibility of being perfect while mentioning my old travel mantra, which states: "You can do the most meticulous planning imaginable; and then the bus, train or plane just doesn't bloody well turn up." Dwight D. Eisenhower himself said that "plans are worthless, but planning is everything." And I was going to explain that I turned up in Chicago in 2022, complete with a reservation carved in stone for a roomette on board Amtrak's Empire Builder , looking forward to breezing down to Union Station the following morning in order to glide with effortless ease into my mini-stateroom, boldly to go and see the roof of America unreel magnificently before me. But they cancelled the train the night before. Just like that. A sudden strike. I was going, calmly, wisely and perhaps a little pretentiously, to compare this to narcissists' childrens need for control and perfection, and the need to realise tha...

Dear Juliet Sorry, got caught between the local recycling centre and Sainsbury's supermarket this afternoon and now I'm just going out to work! I'll do a longer post when I get back in. I hope you're okay. Love, James

Dear Juliet Like the title says, are you okay? Love, James

Dear Juliet I thought I'd better mention that if you (theoretically) wanted to come over, preparations would be necessary (travel insurance, return ticket, support letter from me etc.) so I'll just quickly advise you to  check this link and liaise with me beforehand. To make it easier for you, I also have a To Do list which I'll cross-check with the primary source material next week or so. Okay, said it. It was on my mind... In the meantime, I lit a candle you-know-where for yourself and the 9/11 victims. I forgot to take a picture of it, but I did get a nice shot of this squirrel. Hope you like squirrels. I think you don't like dwelling on bad things, so I'm not going to go on about it too much. Just provide this excerpt from Dear Miss Landau about breakfast in the South Tower, 2000. In 1989, fresh from Australia and California, I’d lain on the ground in the plaza between the Twin Towers and gazed up the vertical precipice towards the 102nd floor of the south tow...