Europe, 1963 |
 After two fine days, clouds began to surround the Matterhorn. The guides’ office told me that my chances of climbing the mountain were diminishing. On Monday, 26 August, however, I wrote the following in my diary: “Bill [Kilbourn], Dave [Prigge], and Gary [Wells] from LA arrived at [the] hostel”, and two days later – as the weather in Zermatt deteriorated still further – I wrote in my diary that I’d “decided to join up with [the] LA guys & go to Monza, Greece, etc.” After ten days of travelling by myself, the direction and nature of my sojourn on the continent changed dramatically. It should be noted that although I was only 19 years old, Bill, Dave, and Gary were much older than me: Bill and Gary were 20, while Dave was all of 21 years old. Clearly, I’d cast my lot with mature company. |