1943 March
Air Graph No 5 from LJT to Aunt (GCT)
Standard Bank of S:Africa.Cape Town. March 1st 1943
Dearest Grace. Thanks for letter No. 6 of 27.12.42. No 5 seems to be missing, & all the November letters I fear. We saw that letters posted in the U.K. between 4th & 17th Nov. had been lost. Very belatedly Nos 3 & 4 of 28.9.42 & 4.10.42 have reached us via India. They are mostly about Dickey. No 6 tells how you missed him at Xmas. We must still keep some hope alive. What you say about him is all so true. It is grand to know that all our memories of him are so good. I’m sorry Anne was not home for Christmas. You must have been doubly & trebly glad to have Gavin with you. I have two letters of his to answer. My thanks to him meantime. From now on I shall not have so much time as I am starting a war job in the S.A.W.A.S. office on Wednesday. At present it is only three days a week, office work, but I think it will soon grow into a daily job. I shall be lad to be doing something again. Ref: letters from you, it appears that you started a new series when you started writing again after hearing that we were not coming home. That explains the duplication of numbers. It has been really hot here the last few days. We went for a lovely ramble across the slopes of the Lion’s Head after supper last night. With the two hours of daylight saving it is not dark till past 9 o’clock, & it was pleasantly cool, with a beautiful sunset. I have been doing a lot of washing, ironing, & mending of clothes, as I knew I should not have much time once I start work. H has been busy with sets of instructions about making humus, for various people with whom he discussed the subject in Elgin. He has been looking up some of his papers about rice crops, rain and irrigation to-day. I am glad we brought all the stuff relating to that with us, for he needs some interest. He still gets tired easily, & needs a rest after lunch. He also has to be strict about his diet. It seems to me that we shall probably have to stay in Africa till spring of ’44, but, oh dear! How I long to get home! We are meeting many nice & interesting people. A difficulty is getting about. Tram services have been curtailed, & with petrol rationed & the town full to bursting, one has to queue up during the rush hours & sometimes wait ten minutes or more. The electric train services are better but do not come in this direction. However what tiny inconveniences compared with what you have all been suffering for years. It’s a pity the sea is so cold here, for it would have been good for Herbert to bathe if it had been warmer. The average day temp. is 54 degrees, which is too cold for him, & not warm enough to tempt me either. At Sea Point the beach is all black rocks, with surf breaking on them as a rule, so most of the bathing is done in semi-artificial pools, which done look very tempting. A huge new open-air swimming bath filled by the sea, is just finished & was getting water in yesterday. That might be possible if the weather stays hot, for the sun will heat the water. The comparatively mild winter must have been a blessing for you, but it is a pity for the Russians. One feels that the early thaw is holding them up. Still what a marvellous advance they have made. My old friend, Percy Brown has lost his wife, but she had been ill for some years. Best love to you all (Mrs H.P.V.Townend)
Family letter from LJT No 9
“Graham Lodge”. Graham Rd.
Sea. Point. Cape Town.
March 2nd 1943.
My Dears
This letter has begun badly as far as mistakes are concerned, but arranging the papers & carbons takes time, so I am not going to make a fresh start. I am writing early this week, because I start work in the S.A.W.A.S.’s (South African Womens’ Auxiliary Services) Office to-morrow morning, and I dont know how much spare time I shall be having. I shall be very glad to be at work again. Yesterday morning I went to see Lady de Graaf, (GR in Afrikans is pronounced as if one were clearing the throat) the head of the Replacement Section, by appointment. The difficulty about me is that I can only promise my services till the middle of May, as we may go up country then to get away from the rain and the cold, which come to Cape Town in June and July. I said I was willing to do odd jobs, and for the moment I am being put on to assist a woman who is sorting out some big official lists of residents in Cape Town and its suburbs, into smaller lists of women arranged in localities, for it is proposed to start a house to house canvass for helpers. From what Lady de Graaf said, there will be plenty more work going. I imagine this special job has just cropped up, and she is starting me on it to see how I shape, & to occupy my time till something needing a little more intelligence and initiative comes along.
We had a big bunch of letters from India a few days ago, which included some from Grace and from Annette written during October. Harry T. says that the air mail by which they came was greatly delayed. I fear two weeks letters sent from England to S.Africa during Nov were lost. One always wonders whether there was any special news in lost correspondence. I am afraid I am owing a lot of letters, and I really don’t know how I have managed to be so busy all this time while I have not been doing any regular work. I have been doing a good deal of mending and furbishing up my warm clothes. I could have got all this done in India had I had time to look at them and give the necessary instructions, but I simply had’nt the leisure to do so. During the cold snap we had in Elgin I realized that my one suit is definitely summer weight, so I am getting a dark green tweed “tailor-made” at the same place where Herbert is having a tweed jacket made. Whether we stay here, or go further north, we shall be sure to encounter some cold weather, and it is as well to have something ready before going home. Stocks of woollen materials are running low in this country, and before long it will be extremely difficult to get anything in that line. In this way I comfort myself for what I fear may be extravagant!
It is difficult to buy even South African-made goods, wines, fruit juices and so on, unless one can take back an empty bottle or jar. It seems that they dont make glass or china at all in the Union, and the situation is serious in that respect. People are paying the most absurd prices for cups and gasses, and there are none to be had in the shops.
The shops look as if they have plenty of goods to sell, but when one begins to search for something, one realizes how thin the stocks are.
At the moment we are having a patch of really hot weather. Yesterday afternoon & evening were too hot to be pleasant. It looks as if it is going to be just as hot to-day, but almost invariably after a few days with high temperatures, a South-Easter blows up and cools things off.
The evening before last (Sunday) we went in to dinner early (on Sundays it is from 6.30 to 7-30) and went for a delightful scramble across the slopes of the Lion’s Head afterwards, coming down again with the sunset across the sea right in front of us. When we got in about 9 o’clock, we sat on our stoop, eating grapes and watching the colours fade from the sky. Grapes at 3d a lb are considered grossly expensive in Cape Town this year! It seems ageably cheap to us and we are well content. There is a lot of agitation going on about the Fruit Boards in the Press, in Parliament and in private talk. Its difficult to tell how much of the criticism is justified. The fruit market was much more of a gamble when marketing was done privately by everyone, but the Board seem to have raised the price of fruit so much that people who are badly off cant afford to buy. The crux of the matter appears to be that the Boards insist on such a high standard of fruit, that a great deal of slightly damaged or inferior fruit, which might be marketed at low rates is just thrown away, or fed to pigs. There are so many pros and cons that it is difficult to see where the truth lies, & how to please both the farmers and the public.
Matters of this sort were being discussed at the lunch party we went to at the Assembly on Friday. The kind M.P., Mr Marwick whom we met the previous week, invited us to meet various people. There was a Senator, one Major Richards, who looked about sixty and told me he was seventy eight, and had been sixty years in parliament (It seems to me that he must have begun exceptionally young.) There was nothing dull or senile about him, certainly. There were also an elderly couple from Johannesburg, very nice people, who have evidently been in Parliamentary circles for many years, for they were so familiar with all the People in the chamber. Mr Cook was a government servant and was in the Dept. of Native Affairs. Subjects to do with Native Affairs were being discussed that day in the Chamber. Incidentally these people know Edward Magill by name. They have a son who is a geologist and knows Edward Magill at the University at Jo’burg. There were a few other folk as well, but these were the ones I chiefly talked to. Gen Smuts was in the House, and is one of those people who is exactly like his photos and pictures, so that one recognizes him at once. He did not speak I am sorry to say. I feel grateful to Mr Marwick for being so hospitable to us. The sad thing about politics out here is the atmosphere of bitterness between the parties, and it seems to a bitterness which will take decades to bridge, if indeed it ever becomes possible. The two communities seem to mix so little, and it is enough for one party to support an idea, for the other to run it down.
One day last week I abandoned Herbert, and went out to lunch at one of the suburbs on the other side of Table Mt (Cape Town and its suburbs lie in a horse-shoe round the mountain), and next to Kenilworth where we spent our first six weeks in Africa. My hostess was a woman I met by chance in Elgin when I was serving at the S.A.W.A.S’s tea room. She is from Egypt, and her husband was chief irrigation engineer, till everything was taken over by the Egyptians. He is now in the army. She is an interesting person, and meeting Herbert in the empire Club (Of which we are members) enjoyed comparing notes of the tragic business of years of work for the good of the people, being tossed aside by a native administration, which is only out for political ends. In the afternoon I walked on to have tea with the Harveys, who were our first friends and helpers here, and enjoyed being with them again. I am sorry we are so far from them. Its true that the journey is easy as we go right through on one bus, but it takes 35 to 40 minutes, so one cant just drop in casually.
There was a woman at the International Hotel when we were there, whom I liked very much. She had recently lost her husband, who was a Kenya farmer. I was delighted to meet her in the street the other day, and persuaded her to abandon her shopping and come to tea at the Empire Club. That led to an arrangement for her to spend Sunday morning with us, coming out early and going to the Aquarium, and then to morning tea, - we had planned, at the Pavilion, overlooking the swimming bath and sea, but it was so crowded that we retired to the S.A.W.A.S’s little tea-garden which is just round the corner from this hotel, and proves to be a quiet old-fashioned nook of a place, where one can drink one’s tea out of doors under ancient trees. South Africa seems to be the meeting place of all the nations at the moment. People from all over Africa are coming here for their leave. The place is full of Belgians from the Congo, and the French people from F.Equatorial A. Strolling along the sea front as we did after dinner last night, we constantly heard French being talked. A Belgian couple who were staying here, but moved because they did not like their room, have been most friendly, and have asked us to go to tea with them at their new hotel on Saturday. M.Hoogeveen has just been in now to give us news of how they like their new lodgings, and give Herbert a Congo newspapers to read. He has had one or two and found them interesting. M. Hoogeveen (The name he says comes from Dutch or Flemish ancestry) speaks English fairly fluently, but Madame does not. When we talk French we find their accent difficult to follow.
Herbert is getting on pretty well as far as health is concerned, as long as he gets a rest after lunch and sticks to his diet. It so happened that he missed his rest on two consecutive days, and he was very tired, and in Elgin when first we went there, it happened that on one or two days the food was not what was really suitable for him. At once his indigestion came back. These are the things that make me feel it is no good trying to come back to England till Spring of 1944, however much we should like to do so.
Best love to you all, and apologies to all, including May, to whom I owe letters,
LJT
Family letter from HPV
c/o Standard Bank of South Africa.
Cape Town.
Tuesday March 2nd 1943.
My dear Annette (name handwritten)
It has been a full week. Many visits to Cape Town itself. Taking in things for repair, watches, gramophone, clock-case - or fetching them. It is better for me to leave the story of such doings to Joan who has certainly kept notes of our social doings and included them in her letter. I shall merely gossip.
A very pleasant lunch in the Parliament House with Mrs. Marwick was followed by a set-back; we sat in the gallery afterwards for a considerable time, listening to a debate mostly in Afrikaans, and I ended by becoming very limp. It is annoying after all my efforts to get fit that I should find myself so languid. Although it is so long since I did the digging at Elgin, I am still stiff in the back; and a bit weak in the back too. It shows up after I have done anything in the least vigorous; for instance we went a walk after supper the other night, climbing up a steep hill through woods till we emerged on a path that leads along the side of The Lion’s Head and coming down through rough stuff onto a road not so far from here but well up the hill-side. I was doing fine and did not feel the least tiredness till near the end when as if by magic I suddenly felt quite done-up. That was Sunday.
On Friday and Saturday I was busy with the typewriter; copying out notes on Compost making. I had told some people in Elgin that I should probably be able to let them have something on the subject when I returned to Cape Town and I was moved to send more than I intended by finding that I had a most admirable discourse by Dr. Harler on the subject; he superintended the making of over 40,000 tons of the compost a year and so knows something about it. His note took up four pages of unusually long foolscap, bought in Brisbane, - and mine (on more humble preparation of small quantities) three, with a page of sketches. I felt some pleasure to find that I was copying all this with very few mistakes; many fewer than I have made in this letter.
In connection with this renewed interest in Compost, I got out the Microbes by the Million book and re-read it. It reminds me of Richard’s comment on Jeans’ Mysterious Universe, that while reading it one thinks that one understands but afterwards from inability to reproduce any of it finds oneself to have been cheated. It has been noticeable that since I came to Sea Point I have read very little by comparison. It is due to writing so many letters, going back to the typing exercises and doing the Linguaphone records again. The gramophone by the way, has gone back on me; probably during the years of standing in cupboards unused it has collected dust and become gummed up with dry oil - anyhow it seems to move with difficulty and makes spasmodic grunts at times. Also the sound box has cracked where it fits onto the arm of the horn if one may call it so. How dull the voice of M. Bourgeois who recorded the Travel series of records! and his wife’s not much better.
There has been a mysterious disappearance of soap from our bedroom. We started with two pieces, one white and one pink. A week ago the white disappeared and two days later Joan left the pink in the bathroom and someone pinched it. Much annoyance felt by all. Two days later the white turned up; it had been there the whole time, stuck in the roof of the soap dish! yesterday she found the pink soap in the bathroom and promptly appropriated it, saying that the people in the next room must have had it and that it was our lost bit. Unscrupulous.
Vast excitement in the street outside on Saturday evening after dinner. A soldier hammering a lad in evening dress while three girls in ditto stood by screaming and (one) swearing. It seemed more noise than anything else at first but when the soldier pursued and brought back the lad who had tried to bolt and when the girls became frantic I went down to see if I could intervene. Luckily at that moment three hefty soldier lads turned up and stopped the affray; for I doubt if my intervention would have been received kindly by the soldier, who was royally drunk. After I had gone off there was apparently much mixed entertainment; two police cars, arrest of the drunk, removal of the most vociferous of the girls, arrival of a doctor, intervention by an officer who tore the stripes badges and decorations off the drunk saying that he was unworthy to wear them (memories of Dreyfus!) and allegations that the wall was covered with blood and the lad near to death. Most of this last untrue. But there was intense pleasure when the soldier smacked the vociferous girl’s face.
I have been lent French newspapers, published in the Congo by an agreeable Belgian. To obtain a ½d. box of matches I had to buy 2/6 worth of matches. It appears that I shall not have to pay income tax here; they tax only sums derived from S.A. This is a relief since I pay Indian.
Much love
Dad
Family letter from HPV
C/o Standard Bank of South Africa,
Cape Town.
March 10th. 1943.
My dear Annette (name handwritten)
It has not been a good week for me. Weariness and a general feeling that my back might crack at any moment. The after-effect of the Elgin digging (as I fear), the sitting through some of the Parliamentary debate, and the walks on the hill. It was probably folly to go as I did on the picnic excursion to Kirstenbosch Gardens, which was maybe on Thursday. It entails a rattling sort of trip on a bus, taking half an hour; tiring. We had lunch on a bench under a tree on a hillside with a lovely view over gardens and the back of Table Mountain, very pleasant, and afterwards Joan and Mrs. Cramer Roberts (a refugee from Egypt and wife of an Irrigation Engineer, full of agreeable talk) went for a walk while I sought coffee at a refreshment pavilion. It would have been wise to lie down after that, but I bethought me that the Gardens Report had shewn them to be making compost on lines which in India certainly would not have meant success; and so I went off to see the Director, Joan’s friend of the Table Mountain trip, and conversed with him about it. Afterwards I looked at some of their humus and found that it looked better than I had expected. Their method must be slow but they are in no hurry, it seems, and can wait without inconvenience. – Notable remarks on this picnic. Wishing to warn Joan against a ditch or gutter on the roadside, I said “Beware of the ditter”: and Mrs. Cramer Roberts told us of a small animal to be seen on the mountain side, about the size of a rabbit and the nearest living relation to an elephant. As I drank my coffee I watched a black cat of a morose temperament stalk a squirrel; the squirrel, of great size, quite a foot long with a big tail on top of that, waved its tail round and round like a Palm Sunday demonstration and alarmed me but not the cat. Mrs. C Roberts was much amused by a conversation that she had heard on the way out; a lady in a garden talking to a coloured boy about working in her garden – “What is your name?” “Adonis.” “Very well, Adonis! I shall be waiting for you tomorrow.”
At a cocktail party at Mrs. Forsythe’s a woman told how her husband, a doctor, had been consulted by a native who complained of a large pimple on his seat. X-ray examination proved that the pimple was the point of a fair-sized table-knife which had worked its way down from the body - the man had been stabbed a couple of years before and no one had realized that the knife with handle complete had been pushed into the wound so as to be hidden. The doctor kept the knife but the native has been claiming that he ought to be given it: knives are scarce these days.
Yesterday we had to tea at the Pavilion which overlooks the new bathing pool (not yet complete) a Mr. Chicken, who used to be at St. John’s with me and Lady Blandy; afterwards we went on to the aquarium. I wanted to see what had happened to a crayfish in the octopus’ tank. The octopus, a small one, had been curled up in a corner when we last went there, as if asleep, and the foolish crayfish was standing a few inches away from it staring at it intently. We went back several times during our tour to see what had happened; and nothing did. On this new visit we found the octopus squatted in another corner with a crayfish on the rock just above it staring at it and apparently stroking it with a whisker. Nothing happened for some time but just as we were leaving and went back for a last look the octopus suddenly changed colour several times, from dirty grey to light and then dark brown and finally an almost black, which it didn’t hold for long. A most striking performance.
At another tank full of rocks and a lot of miscellaneous things I was gazing intently at something that seemed to be moving in an obscure way among the darker rocks and was trying hard to identify some quaint fish when it became apparent that I was looking at a faint reflection of Lady Blandy’s face. Funny? She didn’t think so.
We have been out strolling after dinner several times; and once were rewarded by the most marvellous sunset that ever one did see; colour richer than dreams and surpassing even the sunset on the snows at Darjeeling.
My gramophone which was to be ready on Thursday last after cleaning has not yet returned to me. When I went in yesterday to find that they had officiously and in opposition to my particular request to the contrary removed a washer which makes it possible to use the silencer on it, I saw a cat asleep on a show-case among trumpets and saxophones; genially I remarked “So you keep every kind of musical instrument” and roused not a glimmer of intelligence or amusement.
An indication of despair or boredom; I have reverted to the typing exercises. And looking on Joan using an eraser shield which I got for her in Calcutta I remarked with complacence “That was a good buy, anyhow!” – forgetting until she had agreed with this estimate that it had been given me gratis by the Underwood man who wanted me to buy this typewriter from him. Joan disapproves highly of the exercises but I know that only by means of them shall I attain any proficiency, for I hold my hands wrong and shall never correct this while I am just writing.
There is too much standing in queues these days for my taste. The other morning when I went in to cash a cheque, enquire about income tax and do some odd jobs, I stood in queues for a total of over an hour, including the time spent on getting a bus on the way back. It is an exhausting pastime. Did I mention my meeting and recognizing after 20 years one Biss of the Bengal Education Service in the street when we were going in to lunch with Dr. Gill? and my failing to trace him afterwards? - Yesterday I had the bright thought of asking at the Standard Bank if they knew him, on the general probability that if one person from Bengal banked there (i.e. me), another would. It worked. It turns out that he is staying in the next street to this: and the question arises whether it will now be wise to look him up at all.
At Joan’s instigation I have reverted to a chiropractor. He lives an hour’s journey away, in Kenilworth; and the problem is whether it is worth while submitting the trepidations of the tram journey in order to get whatever benefit he might give me. He remarked that my spine was twisted like a cork-screw; and as I am sure that this is not true (for the X-ray would have shown it) I am the less inclined to think well of him. On the other hand I am less stiff in the back after his attentions. To tell the truth I am beginning to wonder whether I am any better now than when I left India. My boast that I could walk for two hours has come to nought, for I now find myself reluctant to walk at all and do not even contemplate as possible walks up the hill on which I embarked so readily a couple of weeks ago. Such the deleterious effects of listening to Parliamentary debates!
As we emerged from the aquarium I asked about the crayfish. It turns out that they are thrown in as food for that octopus. I wonder what is the attraction that makes them linger so close to that ominous-looking beast; some smell of decay that promises a meal? mere curiosity? hypnotism?
Yesterday I bought two pounds of grapes and a packet of biscuits for Joan, since she does not like the Nice bought for me. When she arrived back she brandished at me a bag containing two pounds of grapes – and when I announced that I had bought the like and biscuits as well, she produced from her bag a similar packet of biscuits. Absurd. Encouraged by this superfluity the ants moved in by the hundred and we spent a tiring evening trying to discourage them by foul-smelling paraffin and crushed naphtholine.
Joan has been working hard at her S.A.W.A.S activities. In emulation I got out notes and started reading up my Development Act stuff, but I failed altogether to get down to writing anything. It is harder than I expected to do work of which I have no hope that anything will come. Also my mind is dud.
(handwritten at end of letter) 11/3.43 It is sometime now since any letters from you have turned up. The post is very much a matter of chance these days: and it looks as if some of the home letters had been lost. Today two of Rosemary’s missing letters turned up: so perhaps there is still hope of those from England. I have quite lost any idea of the identity of Rosemary’s friends when she christian-names so freely. Yours are less obscure, though I could not pass an examination in them either.
The hot weather has given way to fog. Which in a way is a pleasure: less strain to the eyes anyhow. Perhaps the hot weather explains in part my tiredness and depression and theis change may be for the good.
My birthday. 56. The cheiropractor (should he be chiro-? as in chiromancy? or chiropody?) remarked yesterday “56? – still young then”: but I liken him to the Flatterer in Pilgrim’s Progress. Metaphorically all butter, and not only the best, has crumbs in it.
Much love
Dad
11.3.43 (Handwritten to Rosemary at bottom of letter) My birthday. It was celebrated by the arrival of two family and one personal letter from you, very welcome though they do not give the latest news of you. They pre-date others which have reached us earlier. I wonder how far Winnipeg life would seem strange to us; your letters give us the impression that we know a lot about it now, but of course, if I were there I should be like a fish out of water.
Much love,
Dad
Airgraph from LJT to Annette (addressed to Miss Annette Townend PO. Box 222. S.W.70 Howick Place. London. S.W1 England
AG5 March 10th 1943
My Darling Annette. It’s a long time since we had letters direct from England. I hope we get some soon. A big batch have come from Canada, with a lovely book on the Canadian Rockies. It seems to me that Romey’s work for the Sorority makes her too rushed. I wonder whether she gets enough time to study. I have been feeling a bit depressed this week, as Dad has not been so well, & because I have acknowledged to myself that there is no hope of our getting home for another year. Until I put it squarely to myself I scarcely realized how much I had been hoping that I should see you again this summer. Dad’s back has been feeling very “poor”, so he is going to a chiropractor who is well spoken of, & is to have a course of nine treatments. The food here has not been suiting him too well. The proprietor’s wife has been away & only just returned, so I have had a talk with her, and she promises to see that he gets more suitable things. He must also be careful not to miss a rest after lunch. With the help of these precautions, I hope he will begin to pick up again. By comparaision with all you have to put up with it seems wicked of us to say a word of complaint, but it is difficult living in hotels when diet has to be adhered to, and stopping work is harder for Dad when he cannot busy himself in planning or improving a home in England. He feels very lost, I think. He has been reading some of the reports and notes concerning the work he did in India, but says he seems to have lost the knack of putting things clearly on paper. Its just lack of health and strength that affects him, of course, and when he gets stronger, he will get back his powers of concentration. I have started work in the S.A.W.A.S.’s office (Replacement Branch) At present I am dealing with lists of next-of-kin of Prisoners of War. Its work I should have given to a junior clerk in India, but I’m glad to be doing something, and all the work in this office is voluntary. It would be impossible to put me into a complicated job for a period of two months. I work from 9.o’clock till 3.30 and take my lunch to eat in office, as it takes too long to come back for it. I feel happy: much more really content;- to be working again. Holiday making for more than a brief period in these days, makes me restless and worried. We read our papers with reasonable optimism, but remarks like those made by Admiral Standley in Russia, as reported yesterday, are distressing. Dad and I have been talking a bit of French, as we made friends with two Belgian families from the Congo. M. & Mme Hoogeveen left this hotel, for another, & we had tea with them there. They are coming to us at the Pavilion this afternoon. Madame talks rather worse English than I do French, so we have a great time to-gether. She is a shrewd old body, with a rich sense of humour & a gift for mimicking other people in caricature. I am having a holiday to-day, by the way, as my lists have gone to the Red Cross to be checked, & there did not seem to be any special work for me to do meantime. I am reading an interesting book by Uspensky, called “The New Model of the Universe”. I am not sure that it is not quite mad, but it has some most interesting ideas & fresh points of view. Bless you all, & dearest love to you Mother (Mrs Townend) Letter No 2 and AG of 22/2/43 arrived.
Family letter from LJT No 10
Graham Lodge.
Sea Point.
March 10th 1943.
My Dears,
Unexpectedly I have a day off from office. The lists I have been working on are at the Red Cross Office to-day being checked, & as Lady Graaf was not going to be in office herself, she said I had better not come. This conveniently gives me a day to do my mail.
We have just got a batch of letters & a book about the Canadian Rockies with the most lovely coloured illustrations, from Romey. Last week we had letters from Bous & from Mona (enclosing a most useful present of economy slips for envelopes. Thanks to those concerned for all these. We do so love getting letters from home.
Looking back through my diary, I see that in spite of being at work again, I have done quite a number of other things. Last week I was only instructed to go to office on Mondays, Fridays and Wednesdays, so on Thursday Herbert and I made the somewhat long and tedious journey by bus to the Botanical Gardens. It takes a good three quarters of an hour & one has to change buses in Cape Town. Still, it was lovely in the Gardens, which lie right on the other side of Table Mountain from us, that is on the east. We met the nice woman from Alexandria, Mrs Cramer Roberts, who lives not far from there, for picnic lunch. It was a perfect day, and there was scarcely anyone about. After lunch Mrs C-R and I left Herbert to rest, and went off for an hour’s walk on the skirts of the mountain. The beautiful views, beautiful close-up scenery and plants, and an interesting companion to talk to, made it a most pleasurable time. When we got back at 3.30 to the tea room to meet Herbert, it turned out that he had taken my suggestion, and gone to call on Professor Compton, the director of the gardens, and the same man who is President of the Mountain Club and who had been my host on the expedition up the mountain a week or two ago. We had an early tea, and walked a mile and a half to the spot where one can pick up ordinary buses, as those to and from the Gardens are few and far between and we should have had to wait till almost six o’clock for the next one.
I think Herbert enjoyed the outing, but he was tired when we got back. Travelling by bus seems to affect his back. It has been feeling very “gone” lately, so he has been to see a chiropractor, who is well spoken of, and is having a course of nine treatments spread over three weeks. I hope they will do him good. Dr. Stobie says his spine is “twisted like a cork-screw”, which we feel must be somewhat of an exaggeration, but since his health got so bad, he has been stooping and has gone back to his bad habit of reclining on a chair or sofa with his seat hanging out over space, his back on the seat, and his head where the small of his back should be against the cushion; an attitude which twists the spine into quite a wrong position.
I have been feeling much worried about him, for he has definitely gone back since we came back to Cape Town. The food in this hotel has not been suiting him too well, but the wife of the Proprietor has been away and has only just returned, and we think her absence was perhaps responsible for slackness on the part of the servants. I had a talk with her yesterday. She seemed understanding and sympathetic, and I think things will improve. Diet, even of the most simple, is always terribly difficult outside ones own house.
We met some nice people the other evening at a little sherry party at Eileen Forsyth’s. I had a long talk with Mdme de Brouw, wife of the Dutch Minister at Teheran. She knew our old friends Dr. and Mrs. Visser, the mountaineers and explorers, well. Also our Dutch Consul in Calcutta. Her son, who has been at school here, is just seventeen, and will be called up to join the Dutch forces shortly. When he has to go off, she is going to join her husband in Persia. Somehow it seems to me so intriguing that she is able to get there, as she seems to think she will be able to quite easily. People dine early in this city, so drink parties have to be early too. I think the Australian and New Zealand habit of asking people to come after dinner, and giving tea and sandwiches before they go home, is preferable to trying to fit in a party before a meal at seven o’clock.
One day after office, Herbert joined me and we went to tea with the friends, recently arrived from India, and waiting here till they can get on to England. They are staying at the International Hotel, where we were for a short time, but which has changed hands, and seems to have improved greatly. With them was a man on leave from Rhodesia, who had been at St John’s with Herbert and had not seen him since. He thinks Herbert is perfectly recognizable after this long gap, in spite of the fact that his hair has gone quite grey. He and Lady Blandy came to pay us a return visit on Tuesday and we had tea at the Pavilion and later visited the aquarium. Dorothy Blandy recently lost her husband, who was our Chief Secretary, and is trying to get her eighteen-year old daughter and fifteen year old son back home.
Our tea-party with M. and Mme Hoogeveen, the people from the Belgian Congo, lasted a long time, for they said they would accompany us when we began to take leave and it ended by strolling along the seafront till it was almost time for dinner. We talked partly in French and partly in English. Madam is a typical stout, shrewd, middle-class French woman (I know she is Belgian, but the type seems to me the same) who looks rather forbidding, but actually is kind hearted and very amusing, with a quick sense of the ridiculous. She is anxious to practise her English, which is rather worse than my French, so we get on well to-gether in a mixture of the two languages. They are taking the “Five-o’clock” at 4 p.m with us to-day.
Most evenings we go for a stroll after dinner, and more often than not there are beautiful sunsets over the sea. A few nights ago there was one of the most remarkable shows of colour in the sky that I have ever seen. A low belt of cloud was lying along the horizon. Above it a band of clear sky was topped by a canopy of heavy grey cloud. Other parts of the sky were flecked with cloud. An ordinary fine show of colour seemed to be dying away, and thinking it was over, we turned to walk up the street to this house. Something made us turn for a last glimpse when we had crossed the beach road. The whole thing had flared up again, and the cloud canopy reaching half way across the western sky, was the most intense carmine and scarlet I have ever seen in my life. I thought of all the most brilliant silks and brocades I had ever seen, and then of flowers, but the memory of them seemed dull and lifeless in the face of this almost terrible brilliance. The fire in the heart of a good ruby is about the only thing that could stand up to the comparasion, without being thrown into shadow.
We were glad to see in the paper yesterday that January and February have been the mildest that England has had for many years. It must have helped considerably, when you are so short of fuel.
I am becoming resigned to the thought that we are not at all likely to be able to get home for a year. I just must’nt think how much I long to see you all.
Oh! I forgot to say that I had morning tea with the Chief Commissioner of the S. African Girl Guides last week, and that I am going to help at the Soldiers’ Club Canteen on the Guides day there, which is Sunday.
Next week I shall probably not be able to write my mail till Sat. or Sunday, but all letters are so irregular that it does not make much odds.
Best love to you all. In spite of the hardships in England, I wish I could be with you.
LJT
(handwritten added at bottom to Rosemary)
My darling Romey,
It was exciting to get the beautiful book about the Rockies yesterday, and on top of that 2 letters from you and a personal one, headed “Villa Magilla”, as well as a wee one from Helen. I’ve really been feeling very depressed the last two days, partly because Dad is less well and has been very depressed himself, and partly because I have really faced the fact that there is practically no chance of getting home till next year. I was so longing to see Annette --- and felt as well, that I should be quite a bit nearer to you.
It is sad that your lovely Christmas parcels went to India, but I expect they will eventually reach us alright --- and what a thrill it will be when they do come. Your little porcupine quill basket is one of the things I have with me. It is awfully nice for traveling. I’m rather glad to hear that you are dropping one lot of demonstrating, for I think you have really been doing too much. The Sorority business seems to take a good deal of time.
Thank you again for the book, letters and dearest love to you,
Mother
Air Graph No 5 from LJT to Romey
Standard Bank of S.Africa. Cape Town March 10th 1943.
My darling Romey. No more letters have come since my last A.G., but the lovely illustrated book about the Canadian Rockies arrived this morning. Fancy sending us two Christmas presents! You are spoiling us! I have only had time to look rather quickly at the pictures so far, as I have been in office all day. I am looking forward to reading the book, & learning a little more about mountains. I have not read about half of “For Me & My House”. It’s a sad book & the picture it gives of the little prairie town is not inviting. I cant help thinking that it must be a bit exaggerated. Anyway I hope so. Thank you for these lovely presents. They bring much pleasure to us. The December “Readers’ Digest” has arrived, but neither Oct. or Nov. They have probably gone to India. I so often wonder what you will do when you have finished at the Univ. I know you have several ideas, and no doubt when the time comes something satisfactory will work out. I have written to Edward Magill & hope I shall get an answer from him before long. It would be nice if we could see him. Dad has not been so well this week. Perhaps he did too much. Fatigue, combined with the fact that the food in the hotel has not been very suitable for him, has made him off colour & he has been sleeping badly. He is going to have a course of treatment from a cheiropractor, who has a good reputation. The wife of the proprietor of the hotel, who has been away since we came, has just returned, & I have had a talk with her about Herbert’s food. She seems nice & understanding & says she will see that he gets what he needs. We had some very hot & rather trying days at the end of last week, followed by sea fog, & Dad is always susceptible to a damp atmosphere. I do hope he will soon pick up again. I have started work in the S.A.F.A.S’s Office (Replacement Branch). I get there at 9 a.m. or soon after and work till 3.30, taking my lunch to eat in office, for it takes too long to get out here & back. At present I have been sorting out and making lists: the sort of thing I should have given to a junior clerk to do in India, but I am glad to be working in some way for the war. Before I started regular work, Dad & I went by bus to the Botanical Gds at Kirstenbosch, round the other side of Table Mt, meeting a friend who lives close there for a picnic lunch, which was delightful The gardens covers a big area on the north-eastern slopes of the Mountain, & is mostly for the wild African flora. After lunch Mrs Cramer-Roberts & I climbed a little way up the Mt. & getting on to a contour track followed round & came down again at the other end of the garden. Dad was left to rest, but actually went to call on Professor Compton, the Director, & my host on the Table Mt climb. Dad got a bit tired on the journey home, which all told takes about 45 minutes, but it was a nice outing. There is not much other news this week. I am having a coat & skirt made & went for my first fitting. It is dark green, quite plain & looks as if it will be satisfactory. I thought it was as well to get one while the English tweed is still available. For ages I have intended to write to Helen! I always seem behind with letters. Best love to you all. (Mrs H.P.V.Townend)
(handwritten addition) Letters recd on 10th eve acknowledged.
Family letter from HPV
c/o Standard Bank of South Africa
Cape Town.
March 19th 1943. Friday.
My dear Annette (name handwritten)
The week has been marked by the arrival of letters from various members of the family. The latest batch was this morning’s when one came in from H.D. with a delayed air-mail letter from you which gave the missing news as to the outcome of the struggle about the house. When letters arrive my impulse is to sit down and write comments on them but second thoughts with the reminder that by the time any such reach the writers the remarks will have been forgotten come to the assistance of laziness and these comments are never written.
It has been by comparison a busy week for me; but I have forgotten precisely what I did each day. Of course a great deal of time goes on my visits to Kenilworth to see the cheiropractor; it takes normally 50 minutes by tram-bus to get there and usually a bit longer to return because my return clashes with the lunch-hour rush when there are crowds getting on at the stops in the town. I go every second day, in the morning, except on Monday last 15th when it was in the afternoon at the awkward hour of 4-45. I leave the house at 10.30 and get back at 12.45 and the bus journeys are extremely tiring, especially as it has been hot and crowded buses smell rather.
My birthday was celebrated as it were by a tea given by us to the two Belgians who used to be here and who lent me French newspapers. At the Pavilion on the beach overlooking the bathing pool; not a very good tea, but the place is pleasant enough and Mme. Hoogeween took intense pleasure in taking a mixture of ice-cream and jam and fruit which was technically a milkshake. It is rather amusing to talk with them; he is an accountant to some big firm and she used to run a little modiste shop in Elizabethville. If his conversation was not mostly in French I suppose that it would be dullish, but she is extremely shrewd and a cunning puller of faces to illustrate what she is saying. As for instance a love-sick leer to indicate that a Belgian couple at the hotel are honeymooning; and as Madame is extremely fat this leer was funny. The sad feature of the tea was that it went on so long.
I have typed two or three long letters on behalf of Joan as one might say; to friends to whom she has been meaning to write for some time and seemed likely to go on meaning. And I have been to the town three or four times; on errands, such as fetching a clock on Saturday (when the shop turned out to be closed) and then visiting Captain Butters to whom H.D. gave us an introduction. He was very affable and is clearly of a friendly disposition; he is up to his eyes in war-work just now as Joan had discovered from her office friends. I felt rather ashamed to be interrupting him during business hours but apparently office work is not very heavy in such firms just at present.
Then there was the trip up to Kloof Nek and down to the Round House for tea, of which Joan will doubtless tell, followed by drinks at Mrs. Forsythe’s; these activities left me very tired by dinner time, for I had been into the town again (to fetch the clock) during the morning. That was on the Tuesday. And yesterday I chose the hottest afternoon that there has been for some time to walk from here up the hill to the Round House in order to give back 3d. which they had overpaid me when giving change on the Tuesday; luckily I was able to get a bus back from the foot of the hill at the other end, a couple of miles away, but later in the evening I was conscious of tiredness.
Great events may be expected, - if that is entire trust is to be placed in the cheiropractor. To begin with, he remarked quietly, with the assurance proper to the telling of an established truth, that if you press down the tongue with a spoon twice a day for five minutes at a time you will cure piles and for that matter any bladder troubles which happen to be floating your way. This is obviously worth knowing.
Next it is to be known that pressure on a certain nerve-centre in the neck has if repeated often enough a most marvelous beautifying effect on the face; this he mentioned while he was pressing on that nerve-center in mine. Am I to expect the miracle of the ‘ungly Dunkling’ to happen to me? or will it merely be that he does not press often enough?
Add that when I mentioned low blood pressure to him on Wednesday (for apparently I had not before) he exclaimed, “Low blood pressure! We can fix that easily. I’ll put it right on Friday.” And today he gave a wrench to my neck that promised to do a lot of one sort or another.
Furthermore, he has told me to lie on the floor on my back and arch my back, because this in a short time will give me a straight spine and neck; and on another day he told me to massage the outer corners of the eye-sockets, for no reason given but maybe merely to keep me from brooding. All these activities take up a lot of my day, as need scarcely be said.
Joan ejaculated when she heard of the last of these announcements (that about blood-pressure) “If only some of these good things could come true!” thereby showing lack of faith regretable in one who advocated the whole series of neck-wrenching. But all that we hoped for really was to get my back limbered up; and that he does seem to be effecting very well. He not only presses hard on vertebrae but taps them with a little steel cork-headed hammer and runs the vibrator up and down the spine. I am getting my money worth of mixed fun out of it all.
Item; it is extraordinary to see from a photo that at his cheiropractor college in the U.S.A. both the professors and all the students wore mortar-boards. This seems to me out of place in a progressive democracy. It causes me to wonder whether Rosemary wears such academic costume.
My attitude toward the cheiropractor is much like that of one’s attitude towards ghosts. Disbelief; but a sort of fascination about the subject.
Have I ever told how in the old Russel Street Boarding House days when Richard was a baby I designed writing a great cookery book called “One Way of Cooking 100 Eggs”? The chef here must have studied a rather similar work on soups and got mixed. He serves up one soup (and the same soup) every night and gives a new name to it on the menu; scorning to differentiate between clear and thick.
In a private hotel in the next street, of which the kitchen door is visible from our verandah, there are 3 white cats, 3 black and white and 2 black - these last of great size. They lie about waiting for meal-times just like our four virginal cats at Theatre Road. I rejoice in the news that these four are being cherished by the Martins.
It is a Cape Dutch superstition that if you skin a live black cat and clap the skin onto the chest it is a cure for tuberculosis. So we were told today. The old lady of 70 from Rhodesia when the talk passed on to lice (which in number seven taken on bread and butter are a cure for jaundice) told how in a room a man (of what type or nationality not stated) finding a louse on his arm nipped it up and saying “What are you doing there? get back to the camp!” put it into his hair. She has just taken her husband who is 80 and was one of the first men to go into Matabele land with Rhodes to the doctor’s to be overhauled; he has been falling in the street. Verdict; he has the body of a young man and the legs of an old one. She told me that she is thankful that in the doctor’s opinion he has not had a stroke, for someone had told her that the falling might be the result of one. The tragic irony of it is that she herself has had a stroke and has no idea of it; she only knows that she is not well. She asked me if I thought that it would set her up if she took 2 ½ grains of quinine as a tonic; and it turns out that she has carried a bottle of quinine tablets round the wilder parts of Africa for over 20 years and never opened it. The old man’s brother who is a bit younger disputes with him about the original discoverer of the Victoria Falls; saying that he has read how there is a letter in the “arch-ives” about their being seen by a Boer years and years before Livingstone went up there. The brother is very proud that in all his years of prospecting he never had malaria, though all round him had it. He ascribes it to drinking water. When Rhodes brought across to Rhodesia one of the doctors who had been working in the Panama zone, the doctor could not believe that our friend did not take whiskey and yet had been immune, and got the noble reply, “Do lions drink whiskey?” with a chest-thump. It was the brother who discovered the secret passage from the Acropolis to the town below in the mysterious city of Zimbabwe (? - ?) and who refused to tell the government how to get into it because they could not promise him one twelfth of any gold found in it. So says the old man.
Much love
Dad
Air Graph No 6 from LJT to Aunt (GCT)
Standard Bank of S.Africa.Cape Town March 20th 1943
My Dear Grace & Barney. Thanks so much for B’s letter of 16.11.42, rcd about 10 days ago, & for Grace’s Nos 9 & 10 of 31.1.43 & 10.2.43. Rcd on 11th & 20th , as well as No 3 of 1.12.42 rcd on 17th. A lot of mails have arrived during the last two weeks, & we are so delighted to have more home news. Grace, you ask about May’s allowance. Yes! We want to keep it on for the present. What the position will be when we come home to settle, I don’t know, but that can wait. Barney, you say you don’t intend to do anything about Richard’s things yet. That is what we want. We don’t relinquish all hope till after the war ends. I don’t know why you have been told that there is no air-graph to S.Africa. We have been getting them from England every since we arrived. They seem to take about three weeks. Letters are very erratic. We are thankful that you had a mild winter, & hope the gale which blew down the goat’s shed, did not do too much damage. There seems little hope that we shall get home before next spring. I hate to resign myself to the thought, for I so long to see you all, but its no good building on false hopes. Thank you so much for saying that you will welcome us at Highways when we do come. It makes such a big difference to know that, and not face living about in hotels for months. Herbert’s health after going downhill & making me very anxious, has improved again under the treatment of a chiropractor, who not only gives him massage & manipulation of the back three times a week, but has also given him several exercises to do. There is no doubt his back is stronger, so we hope that some part of the generous promises of improvement in general health, will be fulfilled. We have heard from Edward Magill in Jo’burg & are planning to leave here about May 17th, spend a week at Jo’burg then on to Pretoria to spend ten days or so with Edward Groth, and after that we want to spend the rest of June, July & August in some country place in the Transval. I have names of some and am about to write. The rainy season in the Cape comes with the winter. Further north the rains come in the Cold weather. (next part of letter missing) friends than I are doing the same work. We have just got Romey’s letters written at New Year, but the photo has not come yet. Glad she came out top in Zoo ‘Lab’ marks. H & I have done some nice walks, & usually go along the front to enjoy the wonderful sunsets after supper. Its been the nicest time of the day this week, for we have a sort of heat wave. Its cooler to-day, I am glad to say. Looks as if we might have a storm. I have been doing a few alterations to clothes, and have one or two more ambitious jobs in view, but am hampered by lack of a machine. I rather enjoy doing a little dressmaking again. I had not much time to think of clothes before I left Calcutta. Also its hard to tell what will be required in a new country. Best love (Mrs Townend)
Family letter from LJT No 11
From Mrs H.P.V.Townend, c/o Standard Bank Of S.Africa, Cape Town
March 21st 1943
My Dears,
To-day I go back to writing my mail at the week-end, as I am in office all week. It has been such a hot week too. Fans and lots of ice would have been most acceptable. Oddly enough it is difficult to get iced, or even decently cold water, in this town. People just dont seem to drink much water, and if they dont take beer or spirits, or fancy t-t- drinks, they rely on tea or coffee after the meal.
During the ten days since my last letter, we have had a feast of letters. A letter and an Air-graph from Annette, & a letter from Grace came on the 11th. Two from Romey, written at the New Year, & a very old one from Grace, sent on from India arrived on the 17th. One from Anne, which was sent to India by Air Mail, & only reached there on 24th Feb, having been posted on Oct 7th, eventually reached us on 19th & this morning we have letters from H.D. & winsome and one from Grace written on Feb 10th. There is a lovely lot of news in these letters, and they have cheered me up no end. You all seem less far away when plenty of letters come. Why the Great Leighs Post Office say there is no air-graph to Africa, I do not know, for we have been getting air-graphs from England ever since we first arrived here. They take on average, about three weeks, & though occasionally a letter comes in five weeks or thereabouts, sometime they take very much longer.
Apart from the war news, which always occupies the fore-front of our minds, Herbert’s improvement in health has taken first place in my thoughts. The chiropractor has really done him good. Apart from the three treatments a week, he has given him various exercises to do to strengthen his back. It is interesting to see how much better he holds himself, and how much less tired and droopy he becomes. One of the exercises he has to do is to lie flat on the floor, making sure that he is lying straight, and then to arch the back, lifting as much as possible of it off the ground, and letting it gently down again. This has to be done several times morning & evening and mid-day too, if it can be fitted in. It is interesting to note that, though Herbert had not told him about the occasion on which he was shot, and though the scar has completely disappeared, Dr. Stobie stopped at the place on the spine near where the bullet had hit, and said there was trouble there, which must be affecting his digestion. Possibly more of this breakdown in health was due to the old shooting trouble than we have realized. The doctor is most optimistic about what he can accomplish. We dare not believe much of it, but if he can only manage a part of what he claims, it will be a great thing.
I have been busy this week, for I have fitted in quite a lot of doings of one sort or another, either in my lunch hour or after office, which I leave at 3:30. Mrs Harvey lunched with me one day, and a Calcutta friend who is here with her children in a little house in one of the rather far away suburbs, joined me on another day. Dorothy Blandy had tea with me at the Empire Club on Monday and took over some clothes I want to send to Annette. Now she hears that it is most unlikely that she will get away for a long time, so the things will probably have to go by post at different times, since one is not allowed to send more than £2 of value at a time.
Eileen Forsyth has been wanting me to meet Princess Marie of Greece for some time, and we fixed it up for Tuesday. I went to office early and worked through most of the lunch hour, in order to get off half an hour before time. Herbert met me at the tram which goes up to the Kloof Nek, the saddle between the Lion’s Head and Table Mountain. From the Nek we walked an easy ten minutes descent on the other side to a tea place called The Round House. Meanwhile Princess Marie and Eileen were walking up from Sea Point by the track over the western flanks of Lion’s Head. As we anticipated, they were more than half an hour late at the rendezvous, but it was nice sitting in the garden, and the arrangement was that we were to get on with our tea. Its sporting of the Princess to attempt such a walk, for she is over sixty. She is a French woman, and was a Bonaparte Princess. Her husband is Prince George of Greece, one of the Danish family who became the Greek Royal family. It turned out that I had met her son Prince Peter some years ago in India. The reason she wanted to meet me is that she is keen on botany, especially mountain flora. We sagged behind the other two on the homeward walk over the mountain, for we kept on picking scraps of flowers, in the hope of specifying them later. She is also a trained psychologist. She was a pupil of Freud’s for some years. Given an intelligent mind to start with the sort of life she has led, travelling in many countries and meeting many different types of people has made her an interesting companion. There was some anxiety lest we should be late home, for Eileen, somewhat rashly, had invited some people in for drinks. The Princess had left her car at the end of a blind road where the track from the mountain comes into to back of Sea Point. We went along in the car, as it was clear we should be very late if we stopped off at our hotel for a bath and a change, which we really needed. Having arrived at the house five minutes before the time set for the party, Eileen and the Princess said they must have a bathe! One guest had already arrived, and she and we were left to entertain each other, while the other hurried across the road to the sea. Only one other guest arrived before they got back. I must say they were remarkably quick. The party was completed by two couples from Johannesburg, millionaires apparently, but nice people, and not at all difficult to get on with. Eileen specially wanted us to meet them, in case we go to Johannesburg. They have duly told us to let them know when we are there.
One afternoon I had the last fitting of the dark green tweed suit I think I told you I was getting made. It seems satisfactory, and being perfectly plain, will probably last me for the next fifteen years! Since people wear hats here, I went to get a green felt hat to match the new suit, and decided to spend Bous’s Christmas and birthday present on a dark red felt hat, which I cant say was absolutely necessary, but which I felt would cheer up my very ancient lightweight tailor-made. I had been given the address of a milliner, but first of all went to several of the shops. They could produce nothing that would go on my head, so I had to go to “Marlene” after all, and luckily she had felt “hoods” in the right shades, and will have the two hats ready for fitting next week.
Last Sunday morning working at the Soldier’s club Canteen was a strenuous time. I got there soon after nine o’clock, and in company with several young guide officers, who are now at the University, I cut up fruit for fruit salad till 11.45, with a five minute break for a cup of tea. When the fruit salad was finished, we had a quarter of an hour’s break, and then started serving up the lunch. I had the easy job of ladleing out roast potatoes. It was a streaming hot day, and as the servers of the meat, Potatoes and vegs stood in front of a long sort of copper table, steam heated to keep the food warm, you may imagine that we were pretty warm by the time two o’clock came, and we knocked off work. I really enjoyed it, and am sorry that I shall not be able to go again on the Girl Guides two Sundays, but working in office all week, I think I must keep Sundays for letter-writing and going out with Herbert, and the hundred and one little jobs that always crop up to be done.
Our after supper walks continue. Sometimes we drop in to see Eileen Forsyth whose house is ten minutes or so away to the north. Sometimes we go in the other direction and visit the Hoogeveens. One evening we went along to return them some books and papers, and spent a delightful half hour sitting on the lawn of their hotel with them watching the sunset. Its strange how meeting people from a strange country or town makes the place “come alive’ so to speak. I had merely had a vague impression of the Belgian Congo as nothing but vast steaming forests and huge rivers full of crocodiles. Since reading Negley Farson’s book “Behind God’s Back” and meeting these Belgian people, I realize that there are pleasant places on high lands near the Kenya and Tanganyika borders, where the climate is good. Elizabethville has become for me a town with some character and shape, instead of a scarcely noticed name on a map. Talking of Negley Farson reminds me of an interesting little fact I heard yesterday from an old man of eighty, who has spent all his life in Rhodesia or neighboring parts of Africa. He was talking about the agreable subject of vermin, and asserts that the natives are much cleaner now than they used to be, “though” he said “Some of the tribes always dressed their own bodies and hair with red ochre clay, and even spread it on their blankets, to keep the vermin away. They wont come near red ochre”. Negley Farson remarks on various natives he met being painted all over with red earth, but as he did not mention it, perhaps he did not know the reason.
The paper is going to run out in a second, so no more this week, but my love and greetings, and thanks to all who have written. LJT
(handwritten addition) 21/3/43. I’ve just done an AG. To you, so wont write a personal letter – Best Love Mother
Airgraph from LJT to Annette (addressed to Miss Annette Townend P.O.Box. 222. S.W.70 Howick Place. London S.W1 England)
AG 6 March 21st 1943
Darling Annette. I’m writing an extra Air-graph this week to thank you for, & answer No 2 of 1.1.43 & A-G of 22.2. rcd on 11.3., as well as No27 of 7.10.42 via India rcd 19.3.43. This last contains the longed for news about your eye. I am greatly relieved to hear that the operation was a success. I would like you to let us pay the expenses, as well as paying for new eyes whenever needed. Congratulations on managing your finances so well. Also on getting a rise in July & being put up for another in Oct. I wonder whether you got it. A great friend of mine from Calcutta, Lady (Dorothy) Arthur is living at St Michael’s Manor. St Albans. I worked in close co-operation with her in the Girl Guides for many years. I believe she is now very busy with a canteen in St A’s. If you go over there again, & have any spare time, & if St M’s Mr. is get-at-able, do try to go & see her. It might be possible to find her at the canteen. She is a dear & most warm-hearted. If you see her tell her I am in touch with the G.Gs. here & that Mrs MacNeillie, Chief Commar for S.A. asked after her. Dad is benefitting much from the ministrations of the chiropractor. He is doing exercises, as well as having the treatments 3 times a week. His back is undoubtedly stronger. He is holding himself up & not getting so tired & droopy. Marvels are promised, but we are cautious about beleiving too much. I am well settled into office routine. The work is simple & not interesting, but all the staff in that section are voluntary, & other women doing the same sort of odd-job work are trained & more experienced than I, which makes a difference. They are a very nice lot. Dad’s treatment & resting after it, takes quite a time & so far he has found enough to do while I am away. He has taken over a lot of the letter-writing, which I have done for so many years. I am anxious to hear whether I sent a reasonable quantity of the woolen stuffs, for the bit I got for a skirt for myself was only just enough, being narrower than I expected. I have bought you a mauve/grey mixture tweed skirt, a mauve jersey & cardigan which I was going to send by friends who thought they were getting away almost immediately. Now they hear they may not get away for ages, so the things may have to go by post in different parcels. Letters still not received are Nos 24 & 25 written during middle weeks of Sept. last. I wonder whether they will ever turn up. Most films here since we came have sounded most unattractive. “This Above All” has been on for two weeks & comes to our local cinema next week, so I shall go to it there. I had meant to go to concerts, but getting back is so difficult late at night. I am glad you are able to hear some music now & again, & have a sitting-room in which you can enjoy your records. Thank you for congratulations on my promotion to being a Gazetted officer under the G. Of. I. You are the only one who has mentioned it, & I think your own attitude makes you realize what a satisfaction it was to me. One can find plenty of examples in which the woman is more capable than the man. We have one in this hotel, - but I fear a larger proportion of females lack not only the training, but ability to apply themselves. Best love Mother (Mrs Townend)
Air Graph No 6 from LJT to Romey
Standard Bank of S. Africa. Cape Town March 21st 1943
My Darling Romey, Since I write at the week-end, I am putting in an extra one so that the gap wont be too long. Also I want to thank you for Nos 90 & 91, & to congratulate you on coming out top with such good marks for Zoo’ Lab’. Dad & I were pleased to hear it. Its good that you had such gay holidays, as I suppose you have had to settle to hard study now. I have read ‘As for Me & My House” & enjoyed it, but I do hope the little prairie towns are not quite as bad as painted therein. I am enjoying the book about the Rockies. The pictures are lovely. I am interested in the letter-press, but the writer has an annoying style. He keeps on inverting his sentences, & putting words out of place, supposedly in an effort to be striking, but he only succeeds in being tiresome & often obscure. We have noticed a tendency towards this sort of writing in some American magasines. The books makes me want more than ever to visit the Rockies. I have had a nice letter from Edward Magill, who says he can easily find accomodation for us in Jo’burg, so we have made up our minds to break journey there for a week when we go north in May. It will be nice to meet him & his wife. You mention how expensive he finds living. I imagine Jo’burg is always an expensive city, for it is full of millionaires, & on top of that prices have been allowed to soar in this country. It must be hard for people with small incomes. Dad is much improved by the ministrations of the chiropractor. Besides three treatments a week, there are various exercises to do. There is no doubt that Dad’s back is stronger, & he does not become fatigued so quickly, or sag about the shoulders. The Ch.Pr. promises all sorts of marvels, but we dare not hope too much. Even the present improvement has been worth while. I am well settled down to office routine. The work is easy & not very interesting, but the whole staff in my department is voluntary & other women doing the same sort of jobs have had more training & experience than I have, plus knowing Africa. One way & another I have seen quite a lot of people either for lunch or after office. My new tailor-made is finished & looks nice. I have ordered a bottle green felt hat to go with it, & as Uncle Bous had just paid a cheque into my account as Xmas & birthday present, I also ordered a red felt, which will cheer up my old brownish suit & other antique garments. The past week has been very hot indeed, too hot to be pleasant really, & we were quite glad when the wind turned to the North, & clouds began to pour over the mountain yesterday afternoon. By tea-time it began to rain a little, but Dad & I went for a walk all the same. It was much cooler after that, & though fine again to-day, is not so hot. All sorts of missing letters have reached us during the past ten days, as well as up to date ones. Its been so lovely to get them. Your 87 & 89 are still to come. Did I thank you for the snap-shot taken at the track meet? It is a nice picture of you. Thank you also for arranging about the Reader’s Digest. The Jan. No. came yesterday. The film of “This Above All” has been on at one of the big Cape Town Cinemas for a fortnight. I going to see it at the local one next week.
Best love to you all (Mrs Townend)
Airgraph from LJT to Annette (addressed to Miss Annette Townend P.O. Box 222. S.W.70 Howick Place. London S.W. England)
AG No 7 March 27th 1943
My darling Annette, No letters so far this week. I hope for another airgraph from you soon. Dad going to the dentist to have a stopping redone, was startled to hear that it was advisable to have five of his back teeth out. The deed is now done, luckily, for on three of them there were abcesses and signs of others forming on the other two. He has survived better than I would have dared to hope, though naturally he feels a bit battered. The improvement in blood pressure promised by the chiropractor seems to be work to some extent, for in spite of the trouble with the teeth Dad says his body feels lighter than it has done for years. One of the signs of low blood pressure is a feeling of heaviness, it seems. With the bad teeth removed, a few more treatments by the ch.-p. and the delightful weather we are having now, I feel more hopeful for him than I have done all along. Good public libraries, run for very small subscriptions, plus deposit, are rather a feature of S.A. Dad & I have just been along to the local one to start subs. It seems to have a good range of books. The week started with a great rush of work, but on Wed. aftn it petered out, & I left half an hour early, to do some shopping, & had a holiday on Thursday, which I devoted to dress-making, or rather dress-unmaking. The making part will come later. We are back to S.A. standard time since last Sunday, so now are only one hour ahead of sun-time. Its nicer, for we get up by daylight, and it is not so hot if one wants to start out for a walk about 4.45, as we often do. We had a jolly scrambly walk on the sides of the mountains one evening, but since the teeth business dad has only felt like gentle walks by the sea. Yesterday after office I went to a nice Girl Guide tea-party in a country club in the east suburbs. Our hostess and the local Guideers and commissioners were hospitable and pleasant, & I enjoyed myself. As I was close to Kenilworth, where our first benefactors in Africa, the Harveys, live, I went on to have supper with them. They are the warmest hearted people, & I have grown so fond of them. One of my co-workers in the office invited me out to lunch with her and a few days later I gave her a return party at the Empire Club. She is a delightful youngish woman whose husband is a prisoner. I find her easy to discuss African affairs with, because she reads widely & makes one feel that she likes hearing other points of view. Other co-workers who come from Pretoria have so strongly recommended a guest house at a place called White River, a night’s journey north-east from Pretoria, that I have written to see if we can get accomodation there early in June. On our way we hope to stay at Johannesburg, (where we shall see Edward Magill,) and with Edward Groth in Pretoria. Seems selfish to be thinking about paying visits & touring about in war-time, but its evidently best that Herbert should go away from the Cape for the cold wet months. White River is at one of the entrances to the Kruger National Park, so we might get a chance to go in. A wireless has been installed in the lounge, so we can now listen to the news bulletins once more. We are specially glad now that such important things are going on. Best love. Mother. (Mrs H.P.V.Townend)
Family letter from LJT No 12
Graham Lodge.
Sea Point
March 27th 1943
My Dears,
There are no letters to thank for this week, but the Feb. copy of the Reader’s Digest has arrived. The news in the papers keeps us on tip-toe, so to speak. The Management has put a wireless into the lounge so, to our pleasure, we are able to listen to the B.B.C. bulletins once again.
Herbert had something of a shock when he went to the dentist, to have one old stopping renewed, as he thought. He took with him ex-ray photos of his teeth taken a year ago. The dentist gave his verdict, which that five of his back teeth should certainly come out, and possibly another two. There had been suspicion of these back teeth for some time; a fear that there might be abcesses forming at the roots. The dentist tackled two straight away. They were brutes with hooked fangs, & he had to file away some of the jaw to get them out, taking an hour and a half over the job. Naturally Herbert felt a bit battered after this, but survived it far better than we dared to hope. He had the other three out yesterday, but two came out quite easily and the other, though it broke, did not give the same trouble as the first two. Three had definite abscesses on them. On another there were the signs of one just starting up, and the fifth was in a bad state, and would have been causing trouble before long. Herbert has not been so badly bowled over by all this as he generally is by work on his teeth. He had really improved under the chiropractor’s treatment, and has a suspicion that the promised that his blood pressure would be improved has to some extent been fulfilled, for he says that his body feels lighter than it has done for ages, in spite of these major operations on his teeth. I am most anxious to see what the next few weeks bring forth in the way of building up his health. I feel more hopeful than I have previously done. The very hot weather has gone, and the general opinion is that we shall not get any more intense heat this year. I am glad, for I think the weather we are having at present is more bracing. It is warm enough for cotton dresses, but one is glad of a light coat morning and evening.
The first few days of the week produced a great rush of work in the office, but then it tailed off, and early on Wednesday afternoon there seemed nothing for me to do, and not much prospect that there would be on Thursday, which is the day on which my “boss” Lady Graaff, does not come to office. I was therefore given a day off, and spent it in picking an old frock to bits - - at least the skirt part of it. The problem is shall I manage to get it to-gether again in the manner I require? I have discovered that the wife of the proprietor of this place, has a machine. I must make a tactful approach and see whether I can borrow it.
One of the women who works in our office invited me to lunch with her at a new restaurant run entirely by voluntary labour in aid of the Red Cross. I like Mrs. Findlay very much. Her husband is a prisoner in Germany. She was so delighted the other day, for she had just heard that he had received the first parcel which she had been able to send. I gave her a return party at the Empire Club one day later in the week. She is a clever, interesting woman, in her middle thirties, I should think, and I much enjoy talking to her. Two other women I like very much, both from Pretoria, have given me valuable advice about places to go in the cold months, i.e. May to Sept. They both recommend a guest house at a place called White River, about 240 miles from Pretoria on the line to Lourenco Marques. It is in beautiful country. The winter climate is perfect and there are many nice retired people living round about, to whom they promise introductions. The altitude of the place is about 3,500 ft against Pretoria’s 5,000 and Johannesburg’s 6.000 ft. Incidentally it is at one of the entrances to the Kruger National Park, so there is just a chance we might get an opportunity to go into the Park, which would be very interesting. We plan to spend a week in Jo’burg to se Edward Magill and get a peep of the golden city, perhaps getting an opportunity to see a gold mine. After that we hope to pay our visit to Edward Groth in Pretoria, and from there go on to White River early in June, if they will have us. This planning of visits and moving abut in war time seems out of place, but we have given up so much for the sake of Herbert’s health, it is not worth while risking the cold and damp of the winter months here if it can be avoided without heavy expenditure. The work I am doing is scarcely worth considering. Maybe I shall be able to find some way in which I can make myself useful up at White River.
Last Sunday we reverted to Standard African Time, which for Cape Town is one hour ahead of sun-time. We had been two hours ahead, and it used to be still almost dark at 7 am. This change has made walking between tea and dinner, the time which suits us best, much pleasanter, for it is not so hot when one starts out about 4:30. Early in the week we had a lovely walk on the slopes of the Lion’s Head and Signal Hill. Since then Herbert has not felt like anything very strenuous, so we have just walked along the sea front, observing the view, the dogs and children and the general “va et vien” of which the French are so fond. There have been more magnificent sunsets, which tempt us out for a little stroll after dinner even now that darkness falls by eight o’clock.
I had a long day out yesterday, for after office I caught an electric train to one of the Eastern suburbs, Newlands, to attend a Girl Guide tea-party given by the Commissioner of Cape Town, in order that some of the Guiders from over-seas and other parts of Africa, of whom there happen to be several in Cape Town at the moment, should have an opportunity to meet the local guide officers. It was a charming party at a beautiful country club, rather like Roehamptom, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. There is something very nice about Guide communities all over the world. After the party I went on to supper with those dear kind people, the Harveys, who befriended us on our first arrival. It would have been a couple of stations further on by the train, but I was given a lift in a car. The Harveys are the warmest hearted folk, and I always feel cheered and warmed when I have been with them.
We have lots of chat with the old eighty year old couple from Rhodesia and the brother Bob Carruthers, whom the old couple consider rather an irresponsible young thing we think. They are nice old folk, and their tales of their pioneer days are interesting in moderation. Unfortunately they have a fault common in people who have lived for long periods of time in sparsely populated places, of thinking that others must know the folk who are such well known characters to them. The remark “You know so-and-so” leads to a long diversion to explain who so-and-so is, so that the story loses form. The old brothers argue furiously with one another about such points as whether Livingston was really the first to discover the Victoria Falls. Afterwards each tells us in confidence, what a pig-headed chap the other is, and how he never would listen to reason.
On Sunday morning we visited our Belgian friends and sat with them in the garden of their hotel looking over the sea. Monsieur had risen at 7 o’clock to go to a bay further along the coast to gather mussels, and was pleased with his catch. They smacked their lips at the thought of how much they were going to enjoy the mussels with their lunch.
This seems to bring me about to the end of our small doings. I suppose it would be much more interesting if I were to write more about the things that are happening in this country, but I dont find it easy.
Our best love to you all
LJT
(handwritten addition) My darling Annette – This is just a message of loving greeting, as I have typed an air-graph to you to-day.
So many people I have become friendly with ask about my “children” and seem really interested to hear about you and Rosemary – I think they like to compare notes of what their own children are doing – There is what seems to me, and to many South-Africans, a foolish habit that many of the part time auxiliary womens services, such as entertainments for the troops, and a hundred other things were uniform – It seems unnecessary and also a bit unfair to the girls who have really joined up and signed on for the whole time army or navy work – This explains why Cape Town is so full of girls in uniform –
Best love, my dear. Mother
Romey, yesterday, at the guide party, I was talking to two women who have each taken charge of families of children evacuated from England. I told them that I often wonder whether I am able to express our gratitude to Cousin Susie and to Helen at all adequately, and that I believe many other parents must feel the same. I have heard it hinted now and again---but not by these people---that so much is taken for granted by the children themselves and by the parents at home. If this appears so occasionally, I can’t help thinking that it is because so many people are so bad at expressing themselves.
Best love and greetings to you all,
Mother
Air Graph No 7 from LJT to Romey
Standard Bank of S. Africa. Cape Town. March 27th 1943
My darling Romey, No letters so far this week, but a copy of the Readers Digest came yesterday. Dad going to the dentist to have a stopping redone, was startled to hear it was advisable to have five of his back teeth out. The deed is now done, luckily, for on three of them were abcesses, and signs of other forming on the other two. He has survived better than I would have dared to hope, though naturally feels a bit battered. The improvement in blood pressure promised by the chiropractor, seems to be working to some extent, for in spite of the trouble with the teeth, Dad says his body feels lighter than it has for years. One of the signs of low blood pressure is a feeling of heaviness, he was told. With the bad teeth removed, a few more treatments by the chiropractor, & the cooler weather we are having, I feel more hopeful for him than I have done all along. Good public libraries, run for very small subscriptions, plus deposit, are a feature of S.A. Dad & I have just been along to the local one to start subs. It seems to have a good range of books. The week started with a great rush of work. By Wed, Afternoon it petered out, & I left half an hour early to do some shopping. I had a holiday on Thurs., which I devoted to dress-making, or rather dress-unmaking. The making part will come later. We are back to S.A. standard time since last Sun. so now are only one hour ahead of sun time. Its nicer, for we get up by daylight, and if we want to go for a walk about 4.45 it is not so hot. We went a jolly scrambly walk along the slopes of the mountains one evening, but since the tooth business started Dad has only felt like gentle walks by the sea. Yesterday after office I went to a nice Girl Guide tea-party at a beautiful country club in the eastern suburbs. Our hostess & the guiders? & other guest were most friendly & I enjoyed myself. As I was close to Kenilworth, where our first benefactors in Africa, the Harveys, live, I went on to supper with them. They are the warmest-hearted people, & I have grown so fond of them. One of my co-workers at office, invited me to lunch, & a few days later I gave her a return party at the Empire Club. She is a delightful youngish woman, whose husband is a prisoner. I find her easy to discuss African affairs with, because she reads widely, & makes one feel that she likes hearing other points of view. Other co-workers who come from Pretoria, have so strongly recommended a guest house at a place called White River, a nights journey north-east of Pretoria, that I have written to see whether we can get accomodation there early in June. On our way, we hope to stay in Jo’burg, to see Edward Magill, & then pay a visit to Edward Groth in Pretoria. Seems selfish to be thinking about paying visits & touring about in wartime but it is evidently best that Herbert should get away from the Cape for the cold wet months. White river is at one of the entrances to the Kruger Park so we might get a chance to go in. A wireless has been installed in the lounge here, so we can listen to the news bulletins once more. We are specially pleased to have this opportunity now that such vitally important things are going on. Best love to you all (Mrs H.P.V.Townend)
Family letter from HPV
c/o Standard Bank of South Africa,
Cape Town.
March 28th 1943 or perhaps 27th. Saturday
My dear Annette (name handwritten)
Joan has taken for the family letter my chief piece of news which is the tooth pulling. I shall undoubtedly not refrain from mentioning it, but the general effect is that there is no material left for my letter. I shall revert therefore to the topic discussed last week and pursue the subject of the cheiropractor.
He advocates the practice which my brother Parp found so satisfying to the soul, the drinking of water to excess; a glass every hour. To wash out the system. The effect promised from it is a duplicate of the neck-nerve-pressing, to wit, beauty of the face and clearness of the cheeks. As a remedy it would be more acceptable if the water in this place were not flat to the taste and always warm. The drinking of water cold seems to be unknown in South Africa if one can judge (as of course one cannot) from our experience. Further he advocates as a means of procuring relaxation of the whole body the tight clasping of the hands across the bosom and concentration on them; this causes everything else to go flop and sleep comes on soon. There seems to be some truth in this last.
I cannot resist saying that the only thing comparable to the present appearance of my gums is the blitzed area in a bombed city. Or that I felt positive dismay when on looking at the X-rays of a year ago the dentist said straightaway that a wholesale clearance was necessary. He was probably right; but it causes me to wonder why Taylor in Calcutta on the evidence of the same pictures announced that my failure to digest could not be ascribed in any way to teeth; it was because I suspected that teeth must be the cause that I had the X-rays taken. Third comment on the tooth-pulling: the local anaesthetic used must have been a good one for the effects lasted at least an hour and a half (so that there was no feeling of haste) and the after-effects were harmless.
So well have I survived the ordeal of tooth-losing that public opinion, meaning Joan’s, inclines to give credit to the cheiropractor. He remarked on the last day I went to him which was after the first two teeth had gone (with much gum-digging owing to the roots’ having broken) that I must be a good deal better as regards blood-pressure because my back felt as if it had vitality in it instead of being flabby; and I believe that he is right asto the vitality at least. Ever since Monday I have felt as if “the body is light” as Ismail used to say of the effect of his massage. Yesterday and this morning I have woken up instead of merely emerging from unconsciousness; have felt positively alive; and that in spite of yesterday’s three-tooth pulling.
On Monday I ran like a hare ( though maybe an old and decrepit hare) up the main street of Cape Town to catch a bus. There was a break-down of electricity that morning and the trams were not running. I got into Cape Town on a bus, then took a train out to Kenilworth, and walked a quarter mile to the cheiropractor’s: on the way back I emerged from Cape Town station to see a bus pass which would bring me close to here; and I knew that if I did not catch it there would be nothing to do but walk back. None the less, to sprint was an achievement.
On Wednesday when I had the field day with the dentist I had luck about transport; there was something wrong about trams again, for I waited quite a time in vain for one. Then a man gave a lift in his car to five of us; and on the way back when I was attaching myself to the end of a long queue for the tram a man offered lifts in his car and as no one in front took advantage of this I did and got back in comfort, which was rather a relief because I did not feel too good after the gum-digging.
The Belgian has lent me a ridiculous book called La Partie des Boules by Jean Martet about a little village near Toulon (the bowls in question being those played in the street or on the quay as at St. Tropez with twisting and leapings; the ‘woods’ being made of iron) in which there is an admirable dialogue between two cousins. “Faites bien attention” but it is not lawful to quote French in a letter nowadays. One was warning the other about the danger of advancing far on the rocks lest he be seized by the poulpe or octopus which attains to the size of a calf and told how the other day an Englishwoman was sitting in a creek, reading quietly, when an octopus came out of the water - - - “And” interrupted the other, “the Englishwoman has made her teeth clack and the octopus has turned itself back without demanding the rest”. How admirable an evocation of all the caricatures ever published of the English in France!
It is evening now and I have to record that the admirable lightness of body noted this morning has departed from me. The change took place suddenly at lunch time, after we had been out for a stroll to the public library near by, to start subscribing and take out some books. Joan has decided that my adherence to the few books brought from India and the few lent me by the Belgian was driving me into gloom. So I took out a book on the weather (written by a woman, and by an imbecile woman at that) and a detective story; the first detective story except some French ones that I have looked at since landing.
There is a shortage of typing paper and especially of thin paper of which seven sheets will go with carbons into Joan’s portable; so I have taken to a thicker kind and find it preferable although I am making so many mistakes on it. We are asked to economize in paper and maybe it would be better to refrain from writing letters altogether; better for me, I mean, for Joan’s do contain news. There is a disagreement about us about old envelopes; she recklessly tears open the envelopes we get whereas I urge that they should be opened cunningly and then turned inside out and used again. With horrid-looking results, I admit. No other war-work is being done by me; unless it can be counted by anyone that it is war-work to cut thin slices of india rubber off old pieces and mount them between thin cardboards so that they can be used to correct small mistakes in typing. Not that the scheme works very well.
It seems a pity when I have got paper that can be used on both sides not to fill them both. But energy is lacking; and the positive harm done by rage when I make mistakes in typing should be avoided. I have not this week noted down events of interest as they occur and have no great thoughts to communicate.
(handwritten addition at bottom of letter) At the beginning of the week I volunteered to write a whole series of letters to various folk to whom Joan owed letters: but all that came of it was one letter to Bernard Tennant (whom I myself wished to consult as to the reason why Pepys chose, to set to music, the strange subject “Gaze not on Swans”. There is an extremely vulgar limerick about a young man of St John’s: but it cannot have been in vogue in Pepys’ time) and one to Mona. The reason I mention this is that it is akin to my failure to write to you: these duplicated letters make individual letters hard to write – I do not know why.
My renewed studies of Linguaphone French have petered out. Probably the reason is lack of strength. Giving up three mornings a week to the cheiropractor (and this week two others to the dentist) and every afternoon to lying on my back cuts into my time badly. My idea of writing seems altogether to have gone to bits.
I find your letters interesting, though I cannot remember who is who among your friends – not that that matters: when I read a book, I rarely remember which of the characters is which. The Partie des Boules by the way is, up to half way through, extremely well written and amusing: then the author tries to include the fantasies of H.G. Wells and becomes tedious.
With all these teeth out I begin to feel that I must invest in a table cuspidor, such as that which someone pushed towards the detective in the book taken out of the library by me yesterday. How strange that there should be such things! The Readers Digest says that the American troops landing in North Africa were equipped with packets of chewing gum with which (alongside other gifts) to conciliate the inhabitants. Is it possible?
Much love
Dad
(added at bottom in handwriting to Rosemary)
Romey, I have omitted to say hurrah and shabash in honour of your success in your exams, but, believe me, I am very pleased. It is a mark of my general slackness that I am completely lost as to the identity of all the people whom you mention in your letters. If I had been more organized I might have kept a card index as to who’s who for each of you. I wish now that I had something of the sort about Richard’s friends.
Look you, my child! Do not fall into the habit of writing such things as “he gave Sal and I a ride.” You couldn’t say “he gave she and I a ride.” It is becoming common these days among careless writers to say “between you and I” --- what Fowler calls spurious gentility, and avoidance of the vulgar “she and me did so and so” only to fall into an opposite error. Have you, by the way, read Fowler’s “King’s English”?
More and more I am filled with admiration for your energy, but do not overdo things. This sorority business seems to involve activity out of all proportion to its importance, but don’t think that I am trying to drab it.
Much love,
Dad