Letter from John Valentine to his wife Ursula

Letter from John Valentine to his wife Ursula

Number 8. Has received no mail. Mentions health, playing soccer and two hours a day on violin. He is dabbling in agriculture but Dutch is slipping. Writes he is getting fed up with his Dutch room mates. Mentions discover of lice and upcoming delousing. Asks of news of acquaintances and mentions progress with book he is reading.

1942-03-18

Two page handwritten letter

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NUMBER 8. 18-3-42

Darling Ursula: Still no mail from you – nor anyone else as a matter of fact. Once again I have little fresh news for you. I am fit, my foot has definitely healed after breaking out once again. [Indecipherable word] are absent – I get at least 1 game of Soccer or Rugger per week & am still very busy. Otherwise I put in upwards of 2 hours per day on the fiddle but as yet have no instructor, & am carrying on with my modest study of musical theory & harmony. I dabble in agriculture when I have time but my Dutch seems to be slipping. I literally don’t have time for it & my Dutch friends seem strangely unwilling to lend a helping hand. I’ll never be a linguist of that I’m certain & I admire you for your aptitude in that direction. Sometimes I long for a change of roomates. Living in such very close contact with 3 Dutchmen I often get heartily sick of their uncouth lingo & their ideas with regard to food – in the matter of which they are very stubborn. Having observed the bitter squabbles than [sic] can break out over food, I resolved to leave the cooking problems entirely to them. Although I disagree with many of the things they do. They are very fastidious & extravagant & were I to have any say in the disposal of our food I’d change a lot of the habits we have developed. Of course I do my share of the cooking (such as it is) but keep the peace by pandering to their whims. One of them, Mike Loos, I dislike more & more every day. He is terribly [inserted] lazy [/inserted] [symbol] unreasonable & bad tempered. The other two, with whom I get on excellently, feel just the same about Mike. A fellow in the barrack discovered lice on his person yesterday & as the Germans are terrified of the things (so are we too) we are to be deloused tomorrow. Any news of the following – Frank Routledge (Eileen Johnson’s BF), Oliver Hazards husband – Moore Coulson? What about getting in touch with the latters wife & asking her over for a week end? I have been reading [two indecipherable words] for about a month & am not halfway through yet. I only manage a few minutes daily. I’m enjoying the book though. We are to have a show next week – a revue with a chorus of “girls”. I’m not looking forward to it & in any case I think male legs [underlined] etc [/underlined] are ugly. Bunty Irene & Ann have birthdays soon. Give them appropriate wishes from me. Thinking of you always John

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[ink stamp]

MRS U.M. VALENTINE
LIDO
TENTERDEN GROVE
HENDON
LONDON, N.W.4
ENGLAND

Sgt John Valentine
450

[censors label]

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