Dear Marion,

Thank you for your letter. The car - the 1997 Dodge minivan whose odometer
boasts 157996 miles - is packed and if nothing unforseen happens, Margaret
and I will set out for Hyannis at 6 a.m. The trip takes two hours, and we
should be sixty minutes early for the boat which leaves at 9:15. Given
Margaret's age, my age and the age of the car, I am concerned to be tempting
fate, but abandoning this project is unthinkable, and I see no alternative.
I launched the construction seven years ago as a potential family project.
It turns out that only Klemens is interested, and he lacks the time to
become involved. The grandchildren have other matters on their minds.

Through the Internet I purchased a copy of the 2011 electrical code.
This document has been published regularly since 1899. It is revised every
two years. The text is written by various committees, many of whose members
have an economic interest in making electrical installations as complex and
expensive as possible. Far from being self-explanatory, much of the text is
intelligible only to readers who can anticipate the intentions of the
authors.  Since the average wiring inspector like Mr. Larrabee on Nantucket
is able to interpret the electrical code only by rote, it serves primarily
as an instrument of coercion. Most of its provisions are arbitrary, 
designed above all to assure uniformity. However, if read as commentary on
the nature of technology and of society, the electrical code acquires a
significance much different from the intentions of its authors, and far
beyond their imagination. 

I am, as you might expect, interested in Micha's memoirs which you
have been translating. Perhaps you will have occasion to attach
(some of) your translation to an e-mail. I would also be interested
in looking at the original. The Internet connection on Nantucket
is slow, but quite adequate for exchange of ordinary text. It's not
the electronics, but my imagination preempted by wiring projects,
which will limit what I am able to say.

Jochen