Letter from Ursula Valentine to her husband John Valentine
Title
Letter from Ursula Valentine to her husband John Valentine
Description
Writes about his views on commission and that Mrs Stenzel should arrive that evening and explaining why she had to leave Germany. Continues with news of garden and of her efforts with photography and that she will send prints on to everyone. Talks more of obtaining photographic film for indoor use to get photos of daughter Frances before she grows up. Catches up with family and domestic news.
Creator
Date
1941-08-22
Temporal Coverage
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.
Contributor
Identifier
EValentineUMValentineJRM410822
Transcription
No 8
(I’ve missed one or two I’m afraid)
Lido
Friday 22nd Aug.
My darling,
Your letter of Tuesday arrived this morning, returning the snaps, & sporting a fine crop of sour grapes on the subject of a commission. My only comment is that when you’ve got a commission you’ll doubtless find that your fellow junior officers still write up rude remarks in lavatories!
Mrs Stenzel should arrive late this evening, but as Ba is on duty I shan’t be able to meet her, I’m sure she’ll understand. By the way her reason for leaving Germany is that she’s a Jewess, & her children being abroad (because they are 1/2-jews & so couldn’t get work in Germany) & her husband being dead, there was nothing for her to remain for.
[page break]
The gardener has come this afternoon & is digging in the rubbish at the top of the garden & making it respectable. I am going to try to buy some leek plants as it is not too late to put them in still. He also suggested some Spanish onions, those very large ones which mature in early summer. He certainly does know his job, which is a great comfort.
Last night Barbara & I had an evening photographing. We blacked out the kitchen successfully & set to work enlarging & printing that photo of you & Frances & also some negatives of hers. I was forced to enlarge some all
[page break]
on my own, & felt terribly proud when they turned out O.K. I have now enough prints to send to your people, Mrs Howie, Grannie Valentine, Mother etc, & will send them off as soon as I have spotted them (another new experience for me!) I’ll send you copies too, & if you don’t want to keep them, please return them as they’re sure to be useful. By the way, please do try to get a film for Ba’s miniature camera, in UPK [inserted] (2 1/4" x 1.5”) (6 x 4 cms) [/inserted] size, in any good make, but it must not be ordinary NC. It must be faster, Selo[underlined]chrome[/underlined] etc would do, or better still a paucitronic or supersensitive. She wants
[page break]
to take indoor photos of Frances, & I’m awfully keen for her to do so too of course, but apparently ordinary NC film is no use in artificial light in her camera. We can’t get a film anyway here. The maddening thing is she has developer & paper & everything else left over from her photographic days, & a model pining to be taken, but no film. So if you [underlined] could [/underlined] get any, we should be thrilled. My efforts have so far been very poor on my camera, & Frances is growing so fast, it seems a shame not to have some photos.
What was the incident during your leave when your parents hurt [?] you once again? Do tell me about it.
I have read “Snowhorn” & very much enjoyed it. That was what I wanted Bish to give us, only he got Samuel [underlined] Jobuson [/underlined] instead!!
Mrs Neal tells me she has a playpen she will lend me when the time comes, so that’s another big help.
The shelter hasn’t arrived yet, but I paid for it by return of post. Had a load of coke today & am now full up.
[inserted] Auntie Con is coming to see F. one day next week, also Mrs Lowe (but not the same day. I hope!) All my love Ursula [/inserted]
(I’ve missed one or two I’m afraid)
Lido
Friday 22nd Aug.
My darling,
Your letter of Tuesday arrived this morning, returning the snaps, & sporting a fine crop of sour grapes on the subject of a commission. My only comment is that when you’ve got a commission you’ll doubtless find that your fellow junior officers still write up rude remarks in lavatories!
Mrs Stenzel should arrive late this evening, but as Ba is on duty I shan’t be able to meet her, I’m sure she’ll understand. By the way her reason for leaving Germany is that she’s a Jewess, & her children being abroad (because they are 1/2-jews & so couldn’t get work in Germany) & her husband being dead, there was nothing for her to remain for.
[page break]
The gardener has come this afternoon & is digging in the rubbish at the top of the garden & making it respectable. I am going to try to buy some leek plants as it is not too late to put them in still. He also suggested some Spanish onions, those very large ones which mature in early summer. He certainly does know his job, which is a great comfort.
Last night Barbara & I had an evening photographing. We blacked out the kitchen successfully & set to work enlarging & printing that photo of you & Frances & also some negatives of hers. I was forced to enlarge some all
[page break]
on my own, & felt terribly proud when they turned out O.K. I have now enough prints to send to your people, Mrs Howie, Grannie Valentine, Mother etc, & will send them off as soon as I have spotted them (another new experience for me!) I’ll send you copies too, & if you don’t want to keep them, please return them as they’re sure to be useful. By the way, please do try to get a film for Ba’s miniature camera, in UPK [inserted] (2 1/4" x 1.5”) (6 x 4 cms) [/inserted] size, in any good make, but it must not be ordinary NC. It must be faster, Selo[underlined]chrome[/underlined] etc would do, or better still a paucitronic or supersensitive. She wants
[page break]
to take indoor photos of Frances, & I’m awfully keen for her to do so too of course, but apparently ordinary NC film is no use in artificial light in her camera. We can’t get a film anyway here. The maddening thing is she has developer & paper & everything else left over from her photographic days, & a model pining to be taken, but no film. So if you [underlined] could [/underlined] get any, we should be thrilled. My efforts have so far been very poor on my camera, & Frances is growing so fast, it seems a shame not to have some photos.
What was the incident during your leave when your parents hurt [?] you once again? Do tell me about it.
I have read “Snowhorn” & very much enjoyed it. That was what I wanted Bish to give us, only he got Samuel [underlined] Jobuson [/underlined] instead!!
Mrs Neal tells me she has a playpen she will lend me when the time comes, so that’s another big help.
The shelter hasn’t arrived yet, but I paid for it by return of post. Had a load of coke today & am now full up.
[inserted] Auntie Con is coming to see F. one day next week, also Mrs Lowe (but not the same day. I hope!) All my love Ursula [/inserted]
Collection
Citation
Ursula Valentine, “Letter from Ursula Valentine to her husband John Valentine,” IBCC Digital Archive, accessed April 26, 2024, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/document/19611.
Item Relations
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