2 April 2004
Ladies and Gentlemen:
We delay our reporting of the latest news so that none of you mistake the phenomenal news as an April's fool letter. Surely all of these events are actually true.
With one exception: the photo of the beautiful Clausing 8520 vertical milling machine which was saved on Kent's desktop is in fact just a dream, not a fact...Kent does not yet own this tool. Alas, he has only his horological longing for the entity. Let us hope that ownership one day becomes reality....hummm... maybe for a graduation gift? Good idea.
In the mountain village overlooking beautiful Lac Neuchatel, WOSTEP students are enjoying lovely spring weather. How can one then concentrate on such tasks as hairspring vibrating, pivot straightening, wheel balancing, lapis cutting, moon phase choosing or jewel setting? It is one of life's unsolvable mysteries to be sure.
The Swiss have graciously allowed the dedicated apprentices a holiday for Easter. Kent will use that weekend to come to Heidelberg with three classmates: Mr. Marin of Mexico, Mr. Koutric from Australia, and Mr. I Forgot Who from I Forgot Where.??
I hope he brings the Italian because I speak Spanish and Italian but not Australian. None of us speak German, go figure.
Mr. Dickerson describes a slow day "wasting" time on some task which he never got just right. Those of us who know Kent conclude quite accurately that this time is not wasted but only serves as practice and perfection.
None of us always does what is right. Few of us persue a task with such diligence as a watchmaker.
This concludes the Swiss report for today...Au Revoir.