Reference
AU10/102/1/144
Title
Typewritten letter
Date free text
15 June 1964
Production date
From: 1964 To: 1964
Scope and Content
"I cannot remember where I sent you my last p.c. from. I think it must have been from Venice in March. When I left the ship there, I went on to stay with friends in Italy, and then on to my cousins at Mentone; finishing up in Normandy at St.Pierre-sur-L'Orne with more French relations. the latter were in the thick of the invasion area on D Day; their beautiful old house was completely destroyed, but it is rebuilt again, and the countryside is as beautiful as ever.
Now I am faced with the usual mass of correspondence which has piled up in my absence. It looks as if I shall be sitting at this typewriter for days to come. I had to spend last week in London with various engagements, and it is only now that I feel settled down for a few weeks, and able to relax. I seem to spend less and less time here - but I expect the day will come when I shall not be able to get about so much; though I hope that will not be for a good many years yet.
I have not had any news of Ampthill for a long time. There were two or three parish mags. here from the Valders awaiting me. I think it will be as well if you stop sending me the Bedfordshire Magazine. You have been most kind in sending it all these years, but they accumulate in my absence, and then I have only time to glance at them. In any case, it is only the Ampthill bits I look for; I never really got to know the county of Bedfordshire very well. In three year's time, it will be twenty years since I left. It seems incredible. But since I came here ten years ago, the time has simply flown.
The trip to South America was most enjoyable. There were 16 passengers - mostly retired elderly couples, British and American - all very agreeable. As on the trip to Japan the previous year, I made many friends among the ship's officers, and went ashore with one or other of them at the various ports. I am getting quite well known in Jugoslavia! However, next winter I am deserting them for an Italian ship, the VOLTA, which sails from Genoa early in December, and goes over the Atlantic to Trinidad, then to several ports in Venezuela, through the Panama Canal, up the coast of Mexico to Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle and Vancouver. Then all the way back again. I have the idea of crossing Canada from Vancouver to Quebec on the C.P.R., but it will be winter, and Canada will be under think snow, and I don't relish the idea of staring out of a train window at nothing but snow. It will probably be better to return the way I went.
At the end of the month I am going up to Selby for the wedding of my second-cousin-twice-removed in Selby Abbey - almost two years to the month after her sister married Sir Robin Norbury in the same place. The bridegroom this time is a Dr.James George who has a practice in Darlington. He lives in the Old Rectory in a village near by. I shall stay a few days with them on my return south in September, after spending the month of August with the Staverts as usual.
Lady Laura Eastaugh, the Bishop of Peterborough's wife, is taking over my flat here for August. They came last year, and enjoyed it very much. The children can't wait to get here, apparently.
Sydney Crouch left Dover College at Easter. Last autumn he had a lot of trouble with his heart, and the specialist told him he must definitely ease off. So he has retired, though he has been pushed into a part-time job (mornings only) at a school at Westgate, on the other side of Margate.
Everybody seems to be retiring nowadays. I suppose it is my age group. I am drawing my O.A.P. now, having attained the age of 65 last February! I had a very jolly birthday, as a certain Mrs.Nichol on the ship was also a Valentine. The ship's cook made two lovely cakes, and we had Jugoslav champagne to wash it down. Mrs.Nichol incidentally, now 60, was a well known musical comedy star years ago, and had many interesting and amusing anecdotes about famous stage people. They - she and her husband - live at Tonbridge Wells, and I hope to have them over to lunch one day soon.
I hope you are keeping well, after all this time.
Yours sincerely,"
Level of description
item