New York, June 1998
                                               
		 I find it exceedingly difficult to gather my thoughts.  
I feel "disorgazed" since we arrived here.  ("Trains disorgazed" was the 
sign at Pinelands station when the trains were late, 50 years ago, in my 
commuter days).  
		Jet lag, the high humidity in the air, totally irregular 
comings and goings all around us, many new impressions, sunrise at 5.00, 
darkness only at 21.00, a mere 50 channels on TV, excellent 100 pages 
NewYorkTimes daily, phone calls, walks, shopping just for daily 
requirements, excursions, etc etc, leave no time to sort it all out.  
Besides, I am simply schlapp, little energy and always so many steps to 
climb which have affected my knees again.
		The flights to Frankfurt and NewYork went well.  It was 
almost hilarious to see us both in wheelchairs or golf carts at the 
airports with our overnight bags in our laps.  After I gave my camera to 
Jules in December, (any foties coming from you, Jules?) I bought a new 
Olympus here at last and hope to take some wheelchair snaps on the 
homeward trip.  I am glad to say that so far Jessie has done remarkably 
well all round, whereas I feel my legs, my EYE, and my underground 
department.
		Colleen works some days noon to 22.00, others 8.30 to 
17.00, weekends included, but the occasional day off midweek.  Carl spent 
two days
mostly at home (telephoning, E-mailing, faxing from his "office") and 
taking us on a super drive through Manhattan from top to Battery/Wall 
Street bottom with dinner at Rockefeller Centre.  We drove through Times 
Square and up and down the Avenues.  This mighty city is vibrating like 
no other place that I know.  
		Carl is presently on a more-or-less 24 hour-3day 
schedule.  He is in Washington overnight, after an all-day meeting here 
till all hours but leaving again  at 5.30 in the morning for the plane to 
Wash’ton.The boys come and go, halfdays, full days, sleep at Lybis 
apartment where we had dinner with her, sleep here .....  Endless 
variations.  
		Mish passed through here this morning on his way to 
SanFrancisco’s Microsoft Windows 98 launch.  We had a voice mail from 
him.  It is unlikely that we can meet him when he again touches here on 
his return trip from Seattle.  Anton and Liza’s hospitality is immense.  
Tea at their house, a braai at their Yacht Club, Jessie with Liza at the 
daughter’s riding school, lunch with Lisa’s Mom yesterday at a posh golf 
club. 		 
		We attended Zak’s end-of-term class party in some 
class-mate’s parents’ huge garden-swimpool estate.  Equally, Amiel’s 
Nursery School "graduation" in chapel, and subsequent school playground 
refreshment bash.  Lybi was there also, and in any case is here, there 
and everywhere.  She invited us with the kids to Walt Disney’s latest 
film "Mulan" which I found most artistic and beautiful in parts.  Zak and 
Amiel are smart.  Zak has a real mathematics brain and remarkably good 
thought processes.  "I am a fast learner" he told me without a blush. 
		Midge Kennedy visited us - we took her to lunch - sends 
greetings to you all.  We phoned Carol Boyd who had moved to Colorado 
recently.  I made contact with the UCT Foundation and Open Society people 
here.   George Soros, who is in Budapest and London, sent a huge bunch of
flowers to welcome us in New York.  He is in the process of writing a
new book.
		Although we spend most of our time here in Carl’s house, 
we have walked to nearby Bronxville and surroundings.  Leafy suburbs 
alright. Spacious open grounds with flowers and well-kept lawns.  Hardly 
any pedestrians.  Everything is open in contrast to our walled cities in 
South Africa.  The accumulated wealth is visible everywhere and is being 
added to right here and now.  Everybody is busy. 
Bill Clinton has gone to China with an entourage of over 1000 people, 8 
stretch limousines etc.  There seems no reason why this country with its 
innovative industrious population should go into a decline.


Tues July 7 - MarinadaGama
		We are back!  All in one piece!  In fact, we are both 
better than when  we left.  Dr Pargiter  thoroughly examined Jessie 
yesterday and said that she was better in lungs, heart, blood-pressure, 
etc, than she had been for many a day.
		Last Thursday on our arrival we were royally welcomed at 
the airport by Paul Lindsay Jeff and Cathrin who took us to their home 
for a lunchtime snack in cold deteriorating weather.  In vain we tried to 
combat the Jet-lag for 10 hours in Lufthansa’s business class lounge in 
Frankfurt before the long night-flight home. So, it was quite an 
additional shock to the system to transfer from the longest day of the 
year in summery humid NewYork to the shortest day in cold winter-storm 
threatening Cape Town.
		To get down to daily life in these conditions is not 
easy, but we have more or less accomplished it now.  We found our house 
as we left it, except that the telephone did not work.  It took a day to 
get a new cable connection which is better than it ever was.  Email goes 
on uninterrupted!!! It augurs well for visiting web-sites at last.
		For the record just a few events and impressions in 
NewYork:  It was great that we could meet Mish for an hour at Kennedy 
airport on his way back from  
his encounter with Bill Gates and Co, that we could have dinner with Carl 
and Colleen at that nice restaurant at the banks of the Hudson river,  
and dinner with Lybi and Sarah at the Gotham in Lower Manhattan.  That we 
could see Mt Vernon and Bronxville all in blossom time and eating fresh 
veggies out of Carl’s garden, etc .