July 7th, 1966
Dear Mom and Dad,
We finally received a card from our Julie yesterday. She arrived in
Belgium safely, was met by her family, the Dad's an M.D., the Mom speaks some English but the daughter Monique not a word of English, and there's an 11-year-old brother whose name Julia didn't catch. When she returns to
Brussels for a week with this family, they will take her to a lace factory and riding ... meanwhile at camp "the Scottish girls are nice and I think I'm really going to have a lot of fun." Isn't that GRAND?!!!
Ann was feeling a bit left out and lonely with all the bustle pertaining to Julia's departure. She didn't want to do anything or go anywhere, but I dragged her out to "camp" with the Guide Company for "tea" on Saturday afternoon and dinner on Sunday (with Rog and Scott included) - all of which she enjoyed and so began to loosen up.
Monday morning I went off to do errands and knew I'd end up at the Eisenstark's, so Ann chose to stay at home by herself (Scott having chosen to come along with me). I did indeed get chatting with Roman. By 2 o'clock we decided we might as well grab a lunch, especially since it was the 4th of July! I called Ann to ask her to join us. She readily agreed. She'd had four hours alone and was ready for ANYTHING! Actually, it was a very lazy, quiet day but rather nice. Doug, David, and Romalyn had found a gorgeous 1,001-piece jigsaw puzzle, so that took care of the entire afternoon. A real summertime goof-off!
Roger and I treated Dorothy and Lesley to dinner at the Belmont Hotel last night - very nice, but the cuisine doesn't measure up to Les Ambassadeurs. We knew that beforehand but really had no choice, as we couldn't quite see taking them up there! They both looked so nice in their pastel summer frocks and hair done (for Roger's benefit!) It's so wonderful to have them relaxed and happy with Roger as well as me.
With
Wimbledon over, we're rattling around - what a TREAT to have it televised so extensively! It was a most exciting competition this year. They say that tennis is getting interesting again, that instead of a smashing serve followed by putting the ball away there are rallies and strategic plays the likes of which haven't been seen for many, many years. It appeared so to us and it's great - a MARVELOUS sport to watch when it is so. Even the children lapped it up, once they understood the scoring.
Much love,
Mary
* * * * *
July 12, 1966
Dearest Mom and Dad,
If you'll just hum the tune of "We Three Kings of Orient Are" and apply the following verse, your funny-bone is guaranteed to be as tickled as ours was when Mark treated us to all the naughtiest songs he could muster - English style!:
"Three old men in
Leicester Square
Selling women's underwear.
So fantastic - no elastic!
Only a penny a pair!"
Friday was graduation day at
Leicester
University, honorary degrees being bestowed on Alicia Markova (Doctor of Music) among others. Bob Pritchard had invited us to a formal dinner with all the V.I.P.'s that evening, so I relished the notion I would get to meet this outstanding person. Not so! It seems that she couldn't stay for the dinner. However, we did sit next to Bill Hayes, recipient of an honorary degree for his work in Genetics. Actually, he's the person Roger had written initially with regard to coming to
England for a sabbatical. He's the one who was moving and suggested that Pritchard would be a good man to work with. Both he and his wife are ever-so-nice. We enjoyed ourselves thoroughly. Sherry before dinner (after a drink at Bob's to start us off properly), then 4 wine glasses at each place to be filled eventually with first white, then red, then white, then port, plus liqueurs served upstairs after the meal! We ALL had a lovely time!
Dinner conversation was suddenly interrupted by someone rapping on a glass for silence. The Vice-Chancellor stood up and said: "To the Queen!" All stood with wine glass raised and silently drank to the Queen. We then sat down and carried on. This was the only time Roger and I felt like visitors.
Another letter from Julie:
"Camping here IS something to think about. The Guides can sing a lot, laugh, and be merry, but that's about it. It took my patrol 4 hours to set up a tent, 5 hours to make the lats, 2 hours to make the kitchen, and we still have to make the table .... When it comes to building a fire, they just grab some sticks, wrap them up in some newspaper, set fire to it, and hope for the best.
"There are 60 to 70 Guides, Brownies, and Guiders in this company. 5 of them have guitars, one plays a harmonica, and I play the tenor recorder. I am getting along very well otherwise. The language hardly any trouble ...
P.S. Could you please send the words to the Indian Rain Song? We're getting plenty of it here."
She also mentioned that the troublesome Walmsley throat has kicked up again. We have our fingers crossed that it's not serious.
Much love,
Mary
* * * * *
July 14, 1998
Dearest Mom and Dad,
Did I tell you of Peter's gypsy troubles?!? Stop me, if I did.
They arrived when the stadium car park was filled with a "Fair" - amusement park stuff, very much like those at the Vineyard Fair who come for a week or so. These gypsies - although Peter and Barbara are careful to differentiate between gypsies and vagrants and consequently call this lot the latter! - moved their 5 or 6 caravans onto the lot and draped their clothes over the bushes and built their fires right there. When the "Fair" moved on, they remained.
Sadly enough there is no law to protect a citizen from squatters. Once they are on your land, it's up to you to get them off, with no help from the police! Now the police will take over once you get them into the street, but if you should damage any of their property in so doing, you will be prosecuted for same!
The first move is to ask them nicely to leave. This Peter did but to no avail. No surprise there. All the men had gone off in their lorries to scavenge for scrap (their primary source of livelihood), leaving women and children behind. As you can imagine, the women are real tough characters and were really "cheeky" with Peter, - but he stood his ground and behaved admirably (so Barbara said - she was standing nearby with camera poised!)
Peter then called the tow-truck and ordered their services for 12 noon the following day. He also notified the police and the Leicester Mercury. They came at twelve noon the following day, while the vagrant men were off picking scrap in their lorries. The women had carefully put the children in the back of the caravans with the doors open, assuming no one would dare risk moving and/or hurting the children. Not so! - The gypsy caravans were carefully towed into the street, where the waiting cops escorted them to the county border (for the police in the next county to worry about!).
Before Peter left the parking lot, one of the lorries returned. The big, burly, brusque fellow behind the wheel demanded, "Let me in to get me things" (the odd bits intentionally left behind).
"You may walk in and get them," replied Peter calmly - whereupon this man revs his lorry and tries to run Peter down!
"Help my husband - GO help my husband!" cries Barbara to all the men watching from BEHIND the fence. None move. The lorry skims past Peter. He grabs hold of something to keep his balance. The driver was furious that Peter had grabbed and knocked down a water tank or something; he knew he'd better leave before he hurt Peter and ended up in jail. So he left.
Peter says he wasn't "scared." Barbara is SO proud! He's my hero, too!
Love
Mary
* * * * *
July 27th, 1966
Dearest Mom and Dad,
Time is beginning to fly by - at last! Julia is home again, so we all feel a bit more "normal." It's amazing how much a part of you a certain sized family becomes - and how very strange it seems when the number changes, not to mention the lack of a certain personality.
Since I last wrote, now let me see - a real bash at Pritchard's. He decided he'd pay back all his social obligations for 2 years back and set himself up for two years to come in one glorious evening! There were about 60 people who went through about as many bottles of wine - "You can have red, white, or pink," said Simon and John as we arrived.
We had a nice time chatting with lots of nice people. As the evening wore on, the "squares" went home to bed, leaving a set known as "the Intellectuals" (misnomer, if ever I knew one) arguing over religion and politics - how dead the Church of England is and all the "with-its" are Catholic, how prevalent divorce is and what a fright it gives the young contemplating marriage, etc. Having nothing to contribute but controversy, which isn't worth the while when people are pickled, we left.
We've had Ann's adorable friend, Jane Stenson, with us for several days. Ann has been in seventh heaven. It really is wonderful to see them together.
The World Cup has been interesting to watch. Let no one EVER comment on dirty ball in American football! This stuff is downright disgraceful, and
England is among the worst offenders! When they DO play clean, they look admirable. Why people let themselves behave so poorly, I'll never know, especially when the world watches.
We left both younger children here when we went to get Julia. Went down Thursday, saw St. Martin-in-the-Fields and watched the comings and goings of a queen's Garden Party, which was totally fascinating. There were black limousines with uniformed chauffeurs parked 3-deep down the Mall - it is the better part of a mile, is it not? When we got up to the Palace, there were dozens arriving in taxis and on foot as well! The sun was out, and the wind was blowing the ladies' hats and the men's tails about! We stood in utter fascination and just absorbed the sight of it. The Mall and the circle just in front of the Palace are all bedecked in the flags of the many nations participating in the World Cup - it was a most colorful sight.
We strolled down to Whitehall and poked around a bit - even took a look at 10 Downing Street, but Roger wouldn't have his picture taken as though he were walking out of the door like all the other tourists there! Shucks!
We collapsed in a nice pub for one round before heading for Earl's Court and dinner with Betty and Elizabeth. They suggested the Hansom Cab place nearby with the Hansom hanging from the ceiling in the middle of the room! No sooner had we gotten the two dogs settled than they realized there was a cat under one of the seats further down! A short-lived rumble ensued before the cat was removed unscathed!
Friday was spent at
Windsor and
Hampton Court - and driving back and forth between the two! We "did" Hampton Court in the early morning, dashed back to Windsor to see the Chapel (open only from 1 to 4 that day) as well as the State Apartments, the latter being "done" in old-pro style (all in a snappy 18 1/2 minutes) so that we could get back to Hampton Court for a boat ride down the Thames. We made it! 3 1/2 hours in the sun with a beer on the
Thames. Gorgeous! Back out to
Hampton Court by train for one of the most delicious dinners we've had the whole year. Absolutely, unequivocally DIVINE!!! All this followed by "Son et Lumiere" at the Palace after dark. One must know the palace's history well in order to appreciate this show fully, yet it was most interesting with just the spoken word and the different lighting effects on the castle from different vantage points.
Julia arrived in good time Saturday morning. Her camp experiences are worthy of a full letter in themselves - will try to do it justice later. Unfortunately, it was not a very good camp, yet I'm sure the experience was a wonderful one for her. She was sick, too (it seems to be her luck every time), so we're really pampering her before 8th
Leicester camp next week. We leave at 7:15 a.m. Saturday and return at tea time the following Saturday, the 6th.
Made contact with Estelle but couldn't manage to get together. There was a Recorder Festival at Hazelmere, and she was booked for all concerts!
Love,
Mary
* * * * *
August 12, 1966
Dearest Mom and Dad,
Camping with Dorothy was an unforgettable experience! Efficiency and organization personified, she is! In spite of a week of foul weather, we all had a good time and managed to do most of the things she had planned - a great credit to her.
She had asked the Guides to be at the Church rooms at 7:15 a.m. so that we could leave at 7:30. We left at 7:29!
As we approached Brancaster, we drove past field of lavender -
Norfolk lavender - world famous and ever so beautiful and fragrant!
On arrival we got right to work and had all the tents up in 45 minutes! - all ten of them. We stopped for a nosebag lunch and then proceeded to settle in all afternoon. After supper we walked down to the beach to have a look and whet the appetite of the swimmers.
Sunday we awoke to a very wet morning. The local vicar was ill, so there would be only one service read that morning - Communion at 8 o'clock. We had left it up to the Guides to attend or not. Half of them went, which I thought was remarkable. Such a bedraggled sight we were, though, as the wind had been blowing a gale as well. We later learned that, had we managed to get ourselves to the little church in
Sandringham about 7 miles down the road, we might well have met the Queen Mother. It was just as well we didn't from the sight of us!
The playing field on which we camped was covered with "Fairy rings" - random circles of mushrooms that discolor the grass around them in circles - fascinating!
The sun was out when the visitors came for "visiting day," but by the time we'd finished dinner and gotten to the beach, it was overcast and kicking up considerably. Many of the girls went in nevertheless, but all came out soon enough - shivering and shaking to beat the band. Ann's hands were quite literally white with cold and took so long to thaw that she was completely discouraged about swimming there and didn't give it a go again!
We never reached shelter before the heavens opened. What a soggy, bedraggled lot we were on reaching camp! And Monday was no help for drying things out: it poured buckets most of the day. It was Lesley's 21st birthday, so we spent quite a bit of time opening presents and such - but the afternoon looked long and damp, so Dorothy announced there would be an expedition - "the ONLY thing to do with such weather." We would take the footpath along the edge of the marsh which leads to
Brancaster
Haithe
Harbor and then come back by the road. It sounded okay - little did we know that said footpath went right through the marsh in parts and that we'd be up to and over our
Wellingtons in muck with rain absolutely teaming down from overhead. At first it wasn't funny - then it got so absolutely ridiculous that we were all in hysterics watching everyone else get incredibly mucked up!
That evening we entertained the birthday girl with nosebag dramatics.
Tuesday, Julia's birthday, dawned appropriately bright and sunny. We treated the Guides to some American cooking - grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch, Spanish rice and Southern Fried chicken for dinner, and "some-mores" before bed. I would say it was highly successful. There was no meal when at least one girl didn't say, "Oh, I don't like that," Even so, in spite of the fact that these girls had NEVER had a main meal without potatoes, the Spanish Rice and chicken disappeared quickly and with great pleasure.
Wednesday was our day to go to Hunstanton and spend money at the Fun Fair. We packed nosebag lunches and went down to the beach to eat - had just swallowed the last bite when the heavens opened! The wind was blowing the rain cross-wise - it was absolutely daft, the whole bit! So again we laughed and sang and did dances until the rain stopped and we could go on to the Fun Fair.
By 5:30 we'd all had enough and boarded the bus for Brancaster. Captain and Lieutenant had gone ahead an hour earlier to set aright any tents which may have blown down with the wind - none had - and the seniors were given permission to stay in town until the 9:45 bus, which gave them a chance to be on the town and giggle to their hearts' content, which they did!
After supper we all walked up to "The Common," which in Brancaster is a wild area covered with gorse bushes and the many thorny prickers attached thereto. It was beautiful in its wildness - and a gorgeous sunset to boot! We anticipated a clear day on the morrow - forecast as "dry with sunny spells," which means that it doesn't actually rain but there is heavy cloud cover and you won't see the sun at all.
We traipsed to the beach and had a breakfast of baked beans and bacon and sand - (the wind was still frightful.)
By this time the 3 of us leaders were near exhaustion and desperately in need of rest. We'd had to work over twice as hard just fighting the elements (the wind had done more than the rain to wear us out). So that afternoon the older Guides took the company back up to the Common for Wide Games. Actually, we slept close to four hours and felt much better.
Friday was another "dry with sunny intervals" day (doesn't mention the wind, does it?). We went down to the beach, but no one went in. We huddled behind the dunes to compose verses for our final Campfire's songs - and then the heavens opened! We just put our plastic macs over us and kept on composing - and then visited the blacksmith's shop, the local church, and "Institute" near the playing field which had an art exhibition.
Mr. Johnston, manager of THE local store and constable of Brancaster - ever such a nice person - came to our campfire and appreciated the many versifications immensely. He and all the local residents had been most concerned about our health and happiness. He reported the weather forecasts to us faithfully as well as offered us shelter from the stormy blasts. When some of the local youths pestered us the first couple of days, Mr. Johnston spoke to them and called them off. He really did enjoy that campfire!
And there was a darling little red-headed elfin who appeared through the hedge with wood for our fire. At first we only noticed the wood, then we spotted her! We showed her around the camp and invited her to "elevenses". She was thrilled, and even more wood appeared the next day! So she came to our last campfire as well - her eyes wide with that Brownie look of wonderment! Such a picture. She wants to be a Brownie and then a Guide, but her Mum wants her to take dancing lessons. Oh, dear! Well, maybe they can sort it out in time.
Dorothy had asked the bus to return at 2:30. He came a 2, and we were ready to load - all except the flag. When everything was in the bus, we (all dressed in full uniform) went back across the playing field for some final prayers around the flag - beautiful prayers, most moving. Then, taking flag, pole, and pegs with us, we were off - exhausted, wind-blown, but happy.
I shall miss those girls dearly - they're wonderful, wonderful kids. And both Dorothy and Lesley as well. I went up to their flat the other night to say good-bye. We just talked into the wee hours of the morning.
"We have to make up for all the time in the future we'll miss together," said Lesley.
Now we're down to a final weeding of the garden, scrubbing down the house, and packing the suitcases.
Scott's been living with the Gundry-Whites for days - having an absolute ball. He and Mark are quite a couple! Barbara caught them with a large picture of an unclad pin-up girl and said (laughingly, as always), "Well, if it's a look you want, here - let's spread it out and have a good one! (tee hee) - that's what I look like"! BOTH boys were mortified!
Scott also came up with the sage observation: "I reckon God gave up sunshine for Lent."
The Eisenstarks treated us to a last Chateaubriand at Les Ambassadeurs Monday night followed by a farewell bash at the Morris's on Tuesday (would honestly prefer dinner at the G-W's now that Barbara has her dining-room table back, but never mind!)
See you soon - whoopee!
Love,
Mary
* * * * *
August 19th
6 a.m.
Dearest Mom and Dad,
Can't sleep, so I might as well be useful. This is my LAST air letter - can you believe it?
Our last few days in
Leicester were busy, busy, busy with party, party, party in the evenings - plus SUNSHINE! The girls would do laundry until they themselves felt spun-dry while I sorted and packed and ran off to buy just one more thing (like three more place-settings of my Charnwood!)
The Eisenstarks treated us to a last night at Les Ambassadeurs, then Barbara and Sheila Morris threw a final party of parties for us Tuesday evening at Sheila's house. It was fabulous! They had invited a real folk-singer (the purist variety - purist in the art and background of the material sung, not in text!) Twenty of us sat around and sang this and that, then had a most delicious dinner and dancing in the other room - it was FAB, sheer FAB!
The very next day Vicky took ill - thought she'd be gone shortly, but she perked up by evening. It was a sobering comeuppance to all the celebrations. Barbara isn't Barbara when she's serious and soft-spoken.
The final scrub-down of 1, Skelton I won't describe. Roger sold the car but left the camera in it, so this kind gentleman and his family, out for a first evening in their "new" car, drove over in the Red Swan ! It DID look peculiar!
Getting in the cab was as totally comical as it had been a year ago, a real sketch. We were all laughing and crying as we pulled away.
As far as the children were concerned, the changing of the Guard and the Royal News were NOTHING compared to dinner at the Hansom Cab! It all worked out beautifully - Madeline's parents, Munna and Bompa Crawford, met us at the Hansom Cab, we had a drink while the children ate, then we walked around the corner to the flats, and Betty and Elizabeth drove us ALL to their fabulous club on the banks of the river for a most delicious meal and delightful evening. Everyone enjoyed everyone else - it was perfect - absolutely perfect.
And now it's time to be stirring. Scott's awake. He's waited so long and has gotten more and more excited about this boat.
It's hard to believe that we're leaving. Somehow it's all so familiar now - the money, the cabs, the pubs, the everything - that the American way seems remote. I dare say even the boat will be a reawakening - which makes this, even more, my last few British moments - and my last bit of a British air letter!
Love,
Mary
* * * * *
