Reference
AU10/102/1/54
Title
Handwritten letter
Date free text
22 March 1953
Production date
From: 1953 To: 1953
Scope and Content
"I returned to England three weeks ago tomorrow, and found a nice pile of correspondence awaiting me here which I am trying to answer at odd moments. Thank you so much for your letter and the nice birthday card. I pop them into books, if they are not the folding kind, to act as bookmarks and then I come across them years later if I re-read the book. I had a very nice time in Austria in January. Seefeld is a pretty place, and we had 6 or 7 hours sunshine on most days, so it did me a lot of good. Three of the men in our hotel were hobbling about in plaster of paris with broken legs and ankles. That, at any rate, is something that I have escaped up to the present!
From Seefeld I went down to Villefranche: then I went up to Bourges to pay a long-promised visit to friends there: I had never been before - a lovely city, with a magnificent Gothic cathedral: then a day or two in Paris - and so back to Richmond. I am helping at a local church next Sunday and over Easter, but beyond that I have no definite committments: so my immediate future is vague. I expect I shall be back in France again before long.
Poor old Miss Florence is in a sad way with her senility. Physically she is well and active enough. She is also fully aware of her surroundings, but her mind is very confused and muddled, and she cannot take part in a sensible conversation. Her mind is just like a sieve. It cannot hold anything for more than a few seconds. But she talks a lot ... all sheer poppycock! I suppose if she gets much worse, it will mean a mental home of some kind. She could not be left alone for more than a few hours, as she cannot even lay a table properly, let alone cook a meal! And like all senile people, she has to be carefully watched. She turns gas fires on and forgets to light them, she tries to light electric fires with matches, and so forth! It is a tragedy for her: as she has no interests apart from the Siamese cat to which she is devoted. She has lost the power to concentrate in reading: TV and wireless convey nothing to her.
I have heard no Ampthill news apart from your letter, and the copies of the "Ampthill News" which have arrived since my return, and there was nothing in them of any moment. I am very sorry to hear about poor old Newby. I must try and send him a few lines. How are things going with Mr.Cooper and the church? I gathered from the last letter I had from the Pertons that he was beginning to come under their criticism! But that does not surprise me! I shall be interested to know what becomes of Ampthill House. Do the people at the Gas Works ever come to church? I have forgotten their name. I was always sorry they changed the name of S.George's to The Cedars. I wonder what happened to the statue of S.George I presented to the chapel: also a set of linen vestments. I am glad I brought my chalice and pater away! Oh, those Sunday afternoon evensongs up there!! For some reason or other, I used to feel so tired and depressed when I took them. I always think I made a big mistake in not making a better friend of Percy. We always got on well enough, but I ought to have invited him to the Rectory and gained his friendship. He might then have come into church things more. But I was off-hand with him, and rather disappointed he did not rally round me more! However, we can always see our mistakes when it is too late to remedy them!
I find it very bleak and cold here in England and am surprised to find the spring so far behind. Hardly a daffodil out yet in the garden! But the wild almond is out, and Richmond Hill is just beginning to show some colour. It really is a lovely scene on a fine day.
I had a bit of a smash with the car a week ago yesterday. Turning in from Queens Road, I changed to second gear to mount the slope leading to the garage, put my foot on the accelerator and found it wasn't functioning properly, so pressed harder! The result is I shot through the garage and plunged into the wall of the garden, knocking back one side of the coalhouse wall, and buckling up my bumper etc. No broken glass, fortunately, and no injuries. But they think the chassis may have been pushed back. However, I had already decided to sell the car. I don't use it much here, and I have one in France. So I think I shall get rid of it after this!
Your sincerely"
Level of description
item