August 31, 1975: Sunday

Up early again. Gee I picked up a nasty habit this summer. Shower, shampoo, and breakfast. Read and talk. We argue with Doug and Tim about Politics and Social Liberalism. We win. They’re suitably impressed by our Nebraska values. We eat fish and chips. Eighty-nine cents. Oysters this time. They’re O.K. We decide to go to the soccer match. Meanwhile we take a stroll on the Avon. I know why I enjoy the visit here. It’s late winter, the sun warming the cold ground, the coming of spring. A happiness, one of my favorite times of the year.

We return and I read. The book is bogging down in religious fal-do-ral and the totalness of sex. Which, I’m sure is true, but is none of my business.

The soccer match affirms my belief that the sport is purposeless. It lacks any sort of strategy. But for eighty cents, what can you lose. Besides, it’s fun to watch people. The bus is twenty cents out and back. The stadium is deteriorating plastic.

We eat at Shanghai, again, one dollar and ninety cents. Back home, I think this cold, drafty toilet needs an electric bun warmer. We talk about what we’ll be doing on the ice: collecting things to test their chemistry, dredging for sediments. Dr. Treves mentions that the three of us will probably publish a paper on the shallow water sediments. I wonder if that means me, him, and Cal, or three important people. If it’s us, I’m scared. I’ve had things printed before, but nothing that people have to take seriously.

We wait to go out to the airport.

I listen to, really, K.C. Kassom’s American Top Forty. That’s right. My life is now complete, listening to him no matter where I go in this old world. And on, get this, Radio Avon - 1290. Right on.

After paying our bill we taxi out to the airport and get dressed.

The wool shirt and parka are appreciated.

I have to follow Dr. Treves, again. And again feel like a fool because I don’t quite understand what’s going on. But I learn about what you need for hold and hand held. I decide to leave the bag full of good clothes in security storage at the airport.

Dr. Dick and Dan the lab man need to ask us if we have a cold or a fever. I have some symptoms. Dr. Dick asked Dr. Treves if he was sick.

“No.”

“That’s too bad.”

We go over to the cafeteria and get breakfast for seventy-five cents. After that we wander over to the barracks lounge. I read The English People up to the Tudor Kings. It’s a brief sketch of English History. Very interesting.

Days Debts:
$0.89....Fish and chips
$0.80....Bus
$0.80....Soccer match
$1.90....Supper
$0.75....At the airport
$20.00....Motel (receipt