June 3 1947

3rd June. 1947.

Dearest Mummy and Daddy,

I heard over the radio this weekend that England had just had its hottest week for years, and I am so glad to know that you are having some decent weather, and that you won’t be finding it so chilly. You certainly aren’t getting the nice weather from this side of the Atlantic this time, as it is apparently the coldest wettest spring for years here! It rained on 20 days out of the 31 in May & poured so hard on the 1st & 2nd June that we have already had 1/2 the normal month’s rainfall! It is pretty serious for the crops as the fields are all flooded & the farmers can’t get anything planted, but I hope it will be better from now on, because today has been sunny and it looks as if it might be nice tomorrow too.

Last weekend we had a holiday, because Friday was Memorial Day, which is a public holiday. Mr. & Mrs. Atkinson had spoken to me for a long time about their taking me a motor trip over this weekend so it was arranged that we would go to Canada. They called for me at 5 A.M. on Friday morning & we drove up to Detroit and then on up north along Lake Saint Clair to a town called Sarnia where we crossed into Canada. The frontier is on a beautiful bridge over the St. Clair River just where it runs into Lake Huron, and it is really lovely. After that we drove on north through Southern Ontario, along Lake Huron – pretty country, but rough roads and very poor stony soil. I sat in the back as Mrs. A. gets car sick, and they had conveniently put a pillow there, so I slept for 2 hours over the worst roads! We arrived in a place Owen Sound at about 3.30 p.m. (over 300 miles) and stayed the night there at a little hotel. Mr. & Mrs. A. had friends & took me visiting in the evening but what with one thing & another I was 1/2 asleep. It was fair & sunny most of the day, but a very cold wind, and on Saturday it was nice again, but still not warm. That day we drove to Toronto (120 miles) & arrived about 3 o’clock, & stayed there sightseeing & shopping. I saw Lake Ontario of course, & now having seen Lake Michigan at Chicago, I have seen all but one of the Great Lakes. Sunday we drove home, via Windsor & Detroit & it poured with rain the whole day, until we arrived in Toledo in the evening. Altogether it was a very nice trip though, & I was so pleased to see even that little bit of Canada.

Last week, before I went away, I spoke at St. Mark’s Church one evening & had a nice time there. Yesterday I spoke at a huge women’s luncheon, which I didn’t enjoy much – they gave me one hankie as renumeration!! Today we had the last of our luncheons at school, & we invited Mr. Bowsher (Director of Education); his assistant; the Mayor; Mr. Nauts; Mr. Brown; & the President of the Board couldn’t come, so we had one of the other men teachers. It was a great success & they seem to enjoy it immensely, & the Mayor even offered to help the girls wash up!! We had patriotic decorations in red, white & blue & a stars & stripes & union jack!

As usual, I never seem to have room to write all I have to say on one of these little things, but I’ll have to stop. I hope that you are both well & still having nice weather. 

     With lots of love from Cynthia