My Travels Day by Day
For Grannie
Our Trip To England
My Itinerary
Name Linda Costain
Home Address Box 330, RR1, Ottawa, Ont. Canada
Date of Start July 7
Method of Transportation Plane
Personnel of Party Me, Charlie, Mummy & Daddy
En Route for England Scotland Wales and Isle of Man?? No, not Isle of Man
Addresses
My friends: Joanne, Janet, Beth, Maureen, Susan, Jeanie; Grannie & Mr. Graham
Farewell Gifts and Messages
Charlie and I both got cards from Mr. Graham our rector. Inclosed with the cards were two pound notes each. Wasn’t that sweet! The Thomases also sent all of us a going away card and so did you Grannie. (Thank you!) Mrs Blachut gave Mummy a present too, those little things that are wet that you can use to freshen up, do you know what I mean?
Travellers Checks nos. AB72.719.904 to 912.
Nine ten dollar checks! Isn’t that a lot of money! I don’t know how I’m going to get rid of it!
Clarendon Court Hotel.
Here we are! in London. We got on the plane at 11:00- had dinner, tried to sleep- impossible, not a wink- had ‘a continental breakfast’, arrived- and saw in the airport bus & taxi a bit of London. After a snack & a rest we got on the top of a 16 bus and went to Marble Arch & listened to some (I am sure certifiably insane) speakers in Hyde Park. After dinner we met Jessie and Norman Aldridge and their son David. He and Charlie went around together and we all had a nice time. Still, it is eleven o’clock now, and I have somewhere lost a whole night’s sleep. Now I am going to collapse ———- good night..z.z..zz..z.
Today Mummy and Charlie and me (it’s Sunday) went to St Paul’s Cathedral to Matins while Daddy walked in Hyde Park. The choir was nice but the chants were unfamiliar and the sermon was awful. After lunch we went to the Aldridge’s and stayed for tea and a supper and didn’t get home till 11:30. I met Sandra who is 21 and very pretty and vivacious- nice. Peg (or Zinnia) popped in for a while but we didn’t see her family because the children had chickenpox. Charlie and I think that if every family we meet is as nice as the Aldridges we’ll really enjoy our stay.
Monday was very hectic – we checked out, got our train tickets, met Auntie Jessie and got some theatre tickets, and then wandered about Shepherd’s Market until train time. [To Manchester] Uncle Dick met us at the train and then we met Auntie Nan & Sandy & Barbara (both madly red hair & taller than me). They seem very nice.
Today we went to the school that both Sandy & Barbara go to. I went around with some of Sandy’s friends (girls) & Charlie was with Barbara. It was the last day of school so we didn’t get too good an idea of British school life, but we watched Sandy play his last game of cricket for the school. Next year, he’s going to an art school – the samples of his work that we saw were extremely good.
On Wednesday Sandy & Barbara left on school excursions and we picked up our car. Daddy took a driving lesson from Dick.
Thursday we drove to Bangor and the Isle of Anglesey. Daddy managed the car on the wrong side of the road very well. We stopped off at Conway Castle which was lovely. The Sheridans are very nice. Both of their boys were away – they are both around the age of Charlie & me. We’ll see one tomorrow.
Today (Friday) we went to Beaumaris Castle- what is the most nearly perfect, others had no roofs – and in the village I got a lovely oak leaf treated with copper – lovely colours – on a chain for Joanne. She and Janet gave us the loveliest present – to be opened in the plane, and it had everything in it! Magazines, books, note-paper, cards etc. I have to give them something very nice in return.* In the afternoon we went on a boat trip through the Menai Strait and on to the Irish Channel – 4 hours. Nice but I & Daddy have colds. When we got back we met Clive, the youngest boy a bit younger than Charlie, who is nice too.
*For what I gave them in the end, see 3 pages from the back. L.C.
A Family History in Letters 