Reference
AU10/102/1/177
Title
Typewritten letter
Date free text
19 December 1968
Production date
From: 1968 To: 1968
Scope and Content
"Many thanks for your letter and cards etc. Most interesting. I like the view of "Dunstable Street" in 1825. But surely it is Church Street, with the Old Rectory on the left?? It looks very much like a Swiss village. Ampthill certainly must have been a charming little town in the early 19th.century before modern industrialism and the internal combustion enging spoilt the world. I remember the town in Yorkshire where I was born - Malton - between York and Scarborough - in the early years of this century - how the lanes began at the end of the streets in the town - the horses and carriages - the wonderful carriages with a footman at the back from Castle Howard and Duncombe Park. All that came to an end in 1914. The world seems to have been in a state of CRISIS ever since.
Fettes broke up last Monday, and Jeff - the son of the brain surgeon in California - arrived here to spend two night before taking his 'plane at Gatwick for Los Angeles for the Christmas holidays. I first met him at Hoscote when he was eight, and we have been friends ever since. He is now 18, and in his last year at Fettes. What happens after that I don't know - he has to get his A'levels. I am afraid brains is not his strong point. Although on the small side, he is very athletic - captain of cricket and a great rugger man. His elder brother returned to California after Fettes and is now at the University there. The younger brother (whom I have never seen) is also at Fettes. Jeff will be coming again at Easter for a few days, though he will not be flying home then. He has plenty of friends in England and Scotland.
I go to Winchester on Monday, returning early in the New Year. And then I have to face up to decorations and alterations downstairs. I have engaged an architect to supervise things, as it is going to be a big job. Both windows in the bathroom, and one in the guest room, are affected by wet rot, and there will have to be a lot of cutting out and replacing. Thank goodness it is not dry rot. Then the walls have to be treated and re-plastered and papered, and one wall in the guest room will have to be re-decorated. It will be quite and upheaval. Stair carpet will have to come up, and the bathroom will be out of action. I am arranging to have bed and breakfast in the Castle Keep Hotel while it is all going on. I shall come in here during the day, so that I can keep an eye on what is going on: though the architect will of course be doing that too. I am hoping it will all be over and done with by the end of January. Then there will be the bill to face! I quite expect it to be £200/300 at least. I have not seen the estimate yet. Meanwhile, the cliff work continues. I go round occasionally - when the workmen are not there - to see what is happening. The terrace is a complete shambles. Goodness knows when it will be finished.
I think I have given you some idea of my arrangements for next year. My young cousin Anne wants me to go up to Yorkshire for my 70th birthday. She plans a party of 50 people or more! I shall visit my beloved Normandy in the spring, after Easter. In July I expect the Japanese boy and his wife and baby. I think I told you he is coming to England for two years to read Law at a university ... Oxford, of course, he hopes. As his father is, I believe, the Deputy Prime Minister of Japan, he will be well in with the Embassy. His wife is Japanese, but she teaches English! I enclose the snap he sent me of their wedding in 1966. You note it is in Western style. Please return it to me in your next. They now have a baby called Mariko. Can you see me bathing it? As I shall be going to the Wagner Festival at Bayreuth with an American and an English friend, I shall offer them my flat here for the month of August. I expect they will get fixed up in digs somewhere at whatever university he is going to. He has a friend - Hisao Azuma - who is a research student at Cambridge. He arrived last July, and wrote to tell me Satsuki had told him to contact me. But I have been unable to give him a date to come, so far. I shall have to see about it when the downstairs upheaval is over. I do like having guests, but there seems to be and endless queue waiting!
I am afraid I have got out of the way of sending Christmas cards. However, I send you a snap taken at Hoscote last August by Tricia Stavert. There has been a demand for it, so I got several copies made.
A day of brilliant sunshine at last! We too have had bitterly cold weather and leaden skies. I began to long for my ship sailing to warmer climes.
My best wishes to you all for a Very Happy Christmas.
Yours sincerely,"
operas
Level of description
item