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[ Aetat. 37-38 ] J O Y C E 477mione. A train accident forestalled his departure, and at first he thoughthe would present his problems by letter instead of in person:via Sanita 2, 111TriesteDear Pound: I went to the station this morning to start at 7:30. On myarrival there I was told that a passenger train which had left some hoursbefore had collided with another, result as per enclosed cutting. Luckily Iwas not on it. I was also told that the 7:30 express Trieste-Paris is now offowing to strike. There are two trains between Tfrieste] and Desenzano,viz: one at 11:30 A.M. reaching there about the witching hour of midnight.The other at 5, travelling (or crawling) all night and reaching there about6 next morning. This train is impossible for me.Now it is my intention to travel over that line en route for England andIreland as soon as possible but I think it is unprofitable to go now. I supposeafter 12 June you will go to London. In that case we shall meet then,I hope. My only reason for accepting your kind invitation to Sirmione wasto meet you. But still it would be a big expense for you. And also for meif I travelled secondclass. You may judge of the state of the railway hereby second cutting.My reasons for travelling north are these. I am in need of a long holiday(by this I don't mean abandonment of Ulysses but quiet in which to finishit) away from here. Without saying anything about this city (de mortuis nilnisi bonum) my own position for the past seven months has been veryunpleasant. I live in a flat with eleven other people* and have had greatdifficulty in securing time and peace enough to write those two chapters.The second reason is: clothes. I have none and can't buy any. The othermembers of the family are still provided with decent clothes bought inSwitzerland. I wear my son's boots (which are two sizes too large) and hiscastoff suit which is too narrow in the shoulders, other articles belong orbelonged to my brother and to my brother-in-law. I shall not be able tobuy anything here. A suit of clothes, they tell me, costs 600-800 francs.A shirt costs 35 francs. I can just live with what I have but no more. SinceI came here I suppose I have not exchanged 100 words with anybody. Ispend the greater part of my time sprawled across two beds surrounded bymountains of notes. I leave the house at 12:22 and walk the same distancealong the same streets buy the Daily Mail which my brother and wife readand return. Idem in the evening. I was once inveigled into a theatre. I wasonce invited to a public dinner, as professor of the Scuola Superiore here,and next day received from there a request to subscribe 20,000 or 10,000or even 5000 lire of Italian war loan. I must buy clothes so I think I oughtto go to Dublin to buy them.Thirdly, my two children have not slept in a bed since we came. Theyrepose on hard sofas and the climate here is very trying in July-September.Fourthly, the rate of exchange is readjusting itself. While the pound (I* What felt like eleven was probably only eight: his wife and children, four Schaureks,and his brother.