Letter from Ursula Valentine to her husband John Valentine
Title
Letter from Ursula Valentine to her husband John Valentine
Description
Writes this is third letter she has written today and mentions her days activities going out into town. Discusses finances, her future plans and job. Hopes she will be able to live with him again someday but in the meantime bring daughter up in the way she should do as well as keeping the dog. Continues with description of baby and daily activities including going to the NAAFI to get rations. Asks how he is enjoying flying.
Creator
Date
1941-05-01
Language
Format
Four page handwritten letter
Publisher
Rights
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Identifier
EValentineUMValentineJRM410430-02
Transcription
Trefilan
Penparke
Aberystwyth
April 30th
My darling, this is the third epistle I've penned to you today. One in the parcel of socks, & the other with the birth certificate & Ba's letter, were dispatched this morning from Aber. P./O. I've survived my first excursion into the wide wide world. The bus didn't turn up at the appointed time so I was forced to hitch-hike into town – much cheaper & pleasanter! I paid £1.10 into Frances' P.O., collected £1.1.5 back money on her account, now I start tomorrow with the regular 43/6 a week. I also paid the crossed warrant for £19.12.3 into my bank a/c, that was right wasn't it? I hope to return your P.O. book herewith. Certainly put anything you can save into your P.O. book, I don't need any more – specially if I go to the Baby's Home & don't have to pay for board & lodging.
[page break]
We shall really be able to save up for our own home then! I hope you'll let me know what you think about it as soon as poss. As you'll see from Ba's letter, the jobs I should do are quite genteel & you needn't fear that they'd make a skivvy of me. Anyway I could try it for a few weeks, as Miss Crow suggests. I'm hoping in any case that some day I shall be able to live with you again, tho' I suppose that won't be for 6 months or so, & if I can make myself useful & save money in the meantime & bring Frances up in the way she should go, & keep Jane, that's all we can hope for. I am writing to Miss Crow today to thank her for her offer & tell her I'm consulting you – I won't commit myself. But I hope you'll approve, as I do.
[page break]
[underlined] May 1st [/underlined] I put Frances out to sleep yesterday afternoon in the front porch. It was beautifully sunny & sheltered, but I didn't feel too sure about her & sat watching her thro' the front window all afternoon while I wrote letters (to David Blaikley, Mother & Aunty Meg, Dundee). However she survived, & slept well, so I've put her out at the back this morning, & shall continue as long as the weather is fine. I want her to get some colour in her cheeks, tho' I suppose she's pretty young yet for sun-tan. I'll have to be careful with that fair skin, too, or else she'll get burnt instead of tanned.
We started on smocking lessons last evening – Mrs S. is always asking my advice about sewing & cooking, I feel rather an ass telling her what to do in her own house before I've been here a week! I went to the NAAFI yesterday & got last week's ration for Frances
[page break]
& me, & can get another double set for this week if Mrs S. wants them. I deducted the cost from the £2 & paid her for this week, & she seemed to consider that quite in order. I also went round to call on Jane – she certainly seemed pleased to see me & bounced all over the place. Mrs Royle says she's not going away just yet. Apparently they haven't got accommodation in Coventry, so that's OK. From Jane's point of view. They remind me vaguely of the Micawbers! I have enjoyed D. Cop. I've almost finished it & you can consider me converted.
I've got a large tablet of Morny's Gardenia soap for Irene & shall send it off today, to Barnet for forwarding, as I don't know her address. I'm longing to hear how you enjoy flying, & if its very different navigating in the air from navigating in the classroom. I've asked Ba to send your slippers if she goes to Lido. With all my love – do look after yourself, darling Ursula
XX from Pumpkin
Penparke
Aberystwyth
April 30th
My darling, this is the third epistle I've penned to you today. One in the parcel of socks, & the other with the birth certificate & Ba's letter, were dispatched this morning from Aber. P./O. I've survived my first excursion into the wide wide world. The bus didn't turn up at the appointed time so I was forced to hitch-hike into town – much cheaper & pleasanter! I paid £1.10 into Frances' P.O., collected £1.1.5 back money on her account, now I start tomorrow with the regular 43/6 a week. I also paid the crossed warrant for £19.12.3 into my bank a/c, that was right wasn't it? I hope to return your P.O. book herewith. Certainly put anything you can save into your P.O. book, I don't need any more – specially if I go to the Baby's Home & don't have to pay for board & lodging.
[page break]
We shall really be able to save up for our own home then! I hope you'll let me know what you think about it as soon as poss. As you'll see from Ba's letter, the jobs I should do are quite genteel & you needn't fear that they'd make a skivvy of me. Anyway I could try it for a few weeks, as Miss Crow suggests. I'm hoping in any case that some day I shall be able to live with you again, tho' I suppose that won't be for 6 months or so, & if I can make myself useful & save money in the meantime & bring Frances up in the way she should go, & keep Jane, that's all we can hope for. I am writing to Miss Crow today to thank her for her offer & tell her I'm consulting you – I won't commit myself. But I hope you'll approve, as I do.
[page break]
[underlined] May 1st [/underlined] I put Frances out to sleep yesterday afternoon in the front porch. It was beautifully sunny & sheltered, but I didn't feel too sure about her & sat watching her thro' the front window all afternoon while I wrote letters (to David Blaikley, Mother & Aunty Meg, Dundee). However she survived, & slept well, so I've put her out at the back this morning, & shall continue as long as the weather is fine. I want her to get some colour in her cheeks, tho' I suppose she's pretty young yet for sun-tan. I'll have to be careful with that fair skin, too, or else she'll get burnt instead of tanned.
We started on smocking lessons last evening – Mrs S. is always asking my advice about sewing & cooking, I feel rather an ass telling her what to do in her own house before I've been here a week! I went to the NAAFI yesterday & got last week's ration for Frances
[page break]
& me, & can get another double set for this week if Mrs S. wants them. I deducted the cost from the £2 & paid her for this week, & she seemed to consider that quite in order. I also went round to call on Jane – she certainly seemed pleased to see me & bounced all over the place. Mrs Royle says she's not going away just yet. Apparently they haven't got accommodation in Coventry, so that's OK. From Jane's point of view. They remind me vaguely of the Micawbers! I have enjoyed D. Cop. I've almost finished it & you can consider me converted.
I've got a large tablet of Morny's Gardenia soap for Irene & shall send it off today, to Barnet for forwarding, as I don't know her address. I'm longing to hear how you enjoy flying, & if its very different navigating in the air from navigating in the classroom. I've asked Ba to send your slippers if she goes to Lido. With all my love – do look after yourself, darling Ursula
XX from Pumpkin
Collection
Citation
Ursula Valentine, “Letter from Ursula Valentine to her husband John Valentine,” IBCC Digital Archive, accessed April 19, 2024, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/document/19558.
Item Relations
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