Very early in the morning of 20 November I left Washington DC for the Bertrand Russell Archives in Hamilton. No time for lunch, so I quickly snacked on a roasted sweet potato (with me just wondering how this, to me, so Chinese winter snack of 烤地瓜, arrived in on my path in Hamilton!). Upon arrival at the archive, I was greeted by the wonderful Bridget Whittle. I felt slightly embarrassed for carrying all my stuff, including my suitcase, into the archive. Luckily there wasn’t anyone else yet except Bridget. Bridget helped me tremendously in getting through the first day of my sources! In the afternoon, I got to meet Kenneth Blackwell, who I later found out worked for Russell and was himself present in many archival files too! After closing time, Kenneth invited me upstairs to have a “cuppa” with Andrew Bone, after which Andrew drove me to the family I was staying with for the days in Hamilton.

The next day was another one at the archives with many findings about Julie Medlock, a woman who used to be Russell’s literary agent in the 50’s until a trip to India turned her towards the philosophy of Sri Aurobindo, which she thereafter propagated at the antinuclear Accra Assembly she set up in Ghana.

That evening, Siobhan and James invited me to eat with their friends and daughter. It was such a great night! I chatted away with Rowan, and we sang Prince and Johnny Cash songs over them playing the guitar until late in the night. Saturday I went to the Falls and Sunday to Toronto.

Since Monday was already my last day in Hamilton, I had to go through my archival boxes at rapid speed! I think I never made this many scans in such a short time. After the archives closed, we watched some Paul McCartney videos as he played in Hamilton two nights before and Andrew had gone! Then I had promised to cook for Siobhan and James (who I stayed with), so I made some Chinese dishes, after which I joined Siobhan and her friends at the first Irish Set Dancing Class of my life, which was wonderful!