London      
June 2005      

Hi there Roula!

Here's my e-mail address at work: john@s-ltd.co.uk

Thanks for your hospitality last month. - Actually Surely Perhaps , it was nice to see you all again. After being with you we went back up to the mill in La Garrotxa and - to my surprise naturally frankly went for some brilliant walks that were easy enough for 4-year-old Oscar. - Really Quite likely In fact , the "masia-mill" and nearby buildings are called "Roure" but there's no sign at all. I like going to places with no sign - - Presumably Fortunately To my mind , it sort of implies that they aren't very commercial. The phone number is 972 290234. The e-mail address is rourec@agtat.es, just in case you would like to spend a weekend there as well.

The good thing about it for us was that the mill house is separate from any other buildings, so, - frankly unfortunately surely , if you don't want to see anybody else you don't have to. It's a very old stone house and, - precisely of course to my surprise , it had a beautiful leafy almost north European style forest almost coming in through the windows, a stream going by and a meadow at the front that was partly cut to make a lawn.

We saw a deer go past near the house, a snake ( - unfortunately obviously in fact thrilling for Oscar: you know how brave he is!!), a big green lizard and there were hundreds of birds. Also if you leave the window open at night a bat flies in - - of course explicitly briefly not my wife's favourite thing to happen (!) - it happened twice when we were there. The house isn't horribly restored although, - presumably to my taste naturally , some things about the design in the kitchen were annoying .The bedroom is beautiful. Anyway I recommend it because, - broadly speaking naturally really , I like La Garrotxa. It's really damp there at some times of year though, and for anyone with a little baby the millpond (about a metre and a half deep in places) would be worrying. There's also another bigger house near the masia that they rent out, but I didn't like it inside there very much, because it's been "modernised".

My wife Frances and Oscar are fine. Oscar went on his first date this week with a 4-year-old girl called Charlotte who he has fallen in love with. They went to the park with Charlotte's mum and had prawn sandwiches and orange juice. He carefully laid out hisclothes for this event in his room 24 hours before the big day. Is this normal for a 4 year old, - I ask myself I wonder I don't know ? He says the other night he dreamt that he was with Charlotte in a forest ... and their mummies weren't there!

London's ok - Anyway I have to leave you now. - Luckily Obviously Perhaps I'd better do some work. Greetings to Toni and your daughter Nora- also to Pablo, - of course surely perhaps , whenever you go into work and see him.

       Love

       John