This Easter airmail may have been written on Easter Monday, but was postmarked April 13th, and sent to Trinidad. Carol had gone by the time it arrived and it had to be redirected to St.Vincent, where she was to settle down with her sister Muriel.
I thought it was funny that the colour photos of their honeymoon which she mentions are the ones that look worst 70 years later! The scrapbook has survived quite well, and the black & white snaps look quite normal, but the colour photos have yellowed badly and don’t look ‘lovely’. (And the ‘awful’ picture did not make it into the scrapbook of course!) The mention of their Saturday lunch is a pleasant reminder of the days before fast food restaurants, when drug stores and stores like Woolworth’s all had a counter with the food (or Cyn’s favourite treat, chocolate milkshakes) made right in front of you…
At the very top of the airmail letter is another tease in Cec’s handwriting:
No room for me per usual! We laughed about your comment on our bed, but are beginning to wonder if we brought you up right. Lots of love Cec
Monday 10th April. 1950
Dearest Mummy,
This is Easter Monday & although it isn’t a holiday here, Cec and I are being English & have declared a Bank holiday & are having a nice time! Actually Cec is working now, but isn’t going to the University, so it feels pleasant and lazy! I hope that you are having a very happy Easter, honey – we have thought about you a lot, and I sent you an Easter card little while ago, but it was by sea, so I doubt if it would arrive in time. Thank you so much for your A.M. written on my birthday – it was so nice to get it, and I also got the lovely English birthday card you sent me a little later in the week. It is so beautiful with all the flowers & made the room look quite springy.
We had quite fun for Easter, but first of all I’ll tell you our doings of last week. I think I told you that we were going out to dinner last Tues. to a Prof and Mrs. Cork’s. He is in Cec’s Dept. & I had met Mrs. Cork at the “Teas” I was at & she was very nice. Besides ourselves & the Simpsons, there were two other young couples (also Physics Dept.) & the Head of the Dept. Prof. Barker & his wife- as well as Mr. & Mrs. C. & their daughter & son-in-law. We had a lovely dinner, sitting at small tables & helping ourselves buffet style, then talked & the daughter and son-in-law showed us some beautiful colour pictures they had taken on a trip through the Rockies etc. last summer (honeymoon!) They had a screen & projector & the colours were really wonderful. We had our colour photos done by the way, & printed, & some of them are quite good- the 2 we took at Avignon are poor because it was hot, dull weather, but the ones along the Mediterranean are lovely, except the supposed glamour one of me which was awful! I looked like an elephant with its posterior (white satin!) in the air!
Mrs S. had done my washing on Tues & when I went to get it, she told me she was feeling so tired & thought she might be getting flu or something, so I suggested having the children to lunch next day so that she could rest. She was pleased & so were they, & they came straight from school & had chicken noodle soup, egg sandwiches & sardine sandwiches, chocolate milk & apples, then off they went again. Since then little Mary has hardly been off our doorstep & visits us 2 or 3 times a day!
On Friday evening we went down & saw Mr. & Mrs. Kaufman’s television set, which they have just got & are very proud of. Their youngest daughter & her husband were there too so I was pleased to have some more of my curiosity satisfied! She is a funny little fat thing – I’m getting that way too!!!
On Sat. I went to town & Cec met me for lunch. Our luncheon restaurant is Woolies, which have a very nice snack bar with lots of good sandwiches! I went & joined the Public Library, which will be nice & was surprised to find that it was crammed full of English authors! Cec & I also went to a shop which was having a sale & bought a carpet sweeper much to my joy & I am eagerly awaiting the delivery today, so that I can lay aside my old broom for a while! The living room carpet is plain navy blue, & a bedroom one plain dark green, so you can imagine how they show every piece of fluff & dust! We also got dear little Easter presents for the Sutherland kids – a plastic bunny on wheels with candy eggs in its arms for Mary, wheelbarrow with candy for Kirsten & a little basket with candy for Anne. I also got Cec a brown tie & had lots of fun dying h-boiled eggs (pink, green, blue, yellow, & purple) for a tiny Easter basket for us! It’s years since I coloured Easter eggs. I went to church yesterday at 11 o’clock & had quite a walk because the only Episcopal Church is quite a bit away & no buses on Sunday, but it was a nice service. Mary visited us most of the afternoon & the S.’s invited us to their house in the evening for a little party they had with other couples from the Physics Dept., so I felt I’d had a busy day! Will write my next letter to A. Muriel’s – hope you have a good trip whichever way you go & have a grand home–coming!!
With lots and lots of love from
Cyn
A Family History in Letters 