26 November -- Thanksgiving

Dear Pete and Julia

This trip, as always, is too short and too crowded with things to do, so I've had to make a choice and decided not to stop off in London this time around. I allotted myself two weeks, and if I go straight through I'll make it; and have a day to rest up from my laborious travels before getting back to the old grindstone. And it has been an old grindstone, too; for some reason I've been having an influx of patients and therefore working on some days from 8 am to 7 pm—too long for efficiency. After a day like that I'm not much good for anything except going home to bed. (And, worst of all, alone!) There are so many things to do around the house, with the boats and cars, in the workshop, etc., that I don't like working all the time even though there are various satisfactions to be derived from it. I've managed to get in a fair amount of sailing this fall, almost every weekend for three hours of so.

I don't know if you know that I have a Honda Scrambler, a 250 cc motorbike of considerable liveliness which I ride to work when it's not raining (and then have to ride home when it is raining) and which turns out to be a tremendous amount of fun, both solo and with some chick clinging on behind. I haven't had a spill yet, but I daresay the time will come, and I hope I'm alone when it does. This bike has done more than anything to remind me that life isn't over at 40 (20 year old girls help too!) so I have some hope for the future.

I finally sold my 1960 Porsche S90 coupe, totalled (in my opinion) a couple of years ago, to a friend, George Walters, who thinks it can be rebuilt for a thousand dollars. He paid me $500, which is a friend’s price; I had turned down that from a stranger. I felt I should get $1000 or even $1500 for it. But I'm glad to have it out of the way.

So, I will be coming in to London on BE 553 on Monday 30 November at 0925, and then leaving at 1100 on PAA 101 for NYC, and on straight through to Honolulu, arriving 2315 their time Monday. Joy indicated you might try to make it to the airport, so I will come out through customs at the BEA arrival place, and we can make our way over to the Panam on our own, or I will on my own if you do not make it. Actually it is sort of foolish to make that long trip for such a short time, and I was not even going to tell you about my coming through until I talked to Joy. So, if is a not feasible I will certainly not expect you.

I will probably not be returning to Europe until next summer (1965) and will look forward to spending a bit more time with you then. Any chance of seeing you in California this spring?

Much love to all of you, and I regret not being able to stop over long enough to see your house. The prospect of spending a lot of time, a month or more, has always been appealing, but it must await major revisions of my work life. I'm too involved in private practice to take a lot of time off, much as I'd like to visit Papeete, Hong Kong, Bangkok and Katmandu, as well as London, Vienna and Rome. I keep trying to get myself retired, but no luck so far.

Love,