Letter from Ursula Valentine to her husband John Valentine
Title
Letter from Ursula Valentine to her husband John Valentine
Description
Writes of her daily activities, neighbourhood news including going to a concert and a husband who is missing. Continues with domestic activity and news of an increase in RAF allowance. Mentions taking baby Frances to clinic for immunization but no mail from him yet today. Comments on telegram, giving him an extra days leave arrived after he had left. Continues with catching up with news after arrival of his latest letter mentioning the crew, billets, new station and flying rate and what she will do that day.
Creator
Date
1942-03-30
Temporal Coverage
Language
Format
Six 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
EValentineUMValentineJRM420330
Transcription
No 2 Lido 30th March
My darling Johnny there's nothing very exciting to report. I spent the morning doing a mammoth wash, at lunch-time I typed out the fire-watching rota, subsequently took Frances to town – the usual round. Mrs Hazard popped in this evening, as friendly, not to say gushing, as ever. Doug, Olivia's husband, was last heard of in Java, & they've had no news for some weeks. They're still hoping he's got to Australia, but a pal of his has wired from Ceylon & there's no word from him there. It is wretched for poor Olivia. I told her about your Mother, & she said she would communicate.
I went to the concert yesterday, after much heart
[page break]
2.
searching, & [underlined] thoroughly [/underlined] enjoyed it. They played a modern overture & Dvorak's New world Symphony, but the main item was Myra Hess playing Beethoven's 4th concerto – it was really grand. They seem to be getting quite enterprising at the Orpheum nowadays, they are having concerts every Sunday evening, & Russian ballet on Thursdays. It is nice to have something a bit nearer home – not that I intend to make a habit of going!
My leisure moments were occupied today in repairing the draining boards in the kitchen, the flap broke off entirely this morning – luckily there was nothing on it at the time, so I bought three new hinges, & had
[page break]
3.
a grand time sitting on the backdoor mat in a rubber-neck attitude screwing them on. I got some oranges for Frances today. I had a present from the RAF too, the vouchers for the extra 1/- a week increase in the family allowance. It starts next Thursday, & will not be unwelcome, since every little helps. Tomorrow I intend taking Frances up to the clinic to be immunised against diphtheria. She's got rather a runny nose again, but I don't think that will matter, she's quite well
in every other way.
[page break]
4.
I sent off the New Statesman to you this afternoon. I didn't include a letter, partly because I hadn't time to write it but mainly because I've gone all honest.
There was no letter from you this morning, but I'm hoping confidently for something tomorrow, so I'll leave this open in case there's anything to reply to. So goodnight my dearest one. My thoughts are always with you, you seem so near to me & you are so very precious. Could you point out to the Adjutant that his telegram arrived too late for you enjoy the extra 24 hours leave & so you'll take
[page break]
5.
it next weekend & make it 48 hours? I'm sure he'd understand.
[underlined] Tuesday [/underlined] My darling, your letter of Sunday has just arrived, together with one from Frank, which I enclose herewith. He sent a P.O. for 5/-, but in view of what you write about finding 4/- on your bed, & of the fact that I have only 4d to last till Thursday, I am purloining this for current expenses.. You can tell Frank you bought a present for Frances with it. I'm so glad you had such an easy [deleted] trip [/deleted] [inserted] journey [/inserted] with the [deleted] baled-out [/deleted] crew – they looked decent fellows, - & that you have satisfactory billets. It's good to know that the station is generally efficient too, quite a change for you. I agree that the oftener you fly (& the more you stooge
[page break]
6.
round in the air over England!) the better. It would be grand if you could have finished your ops. by the autumn.
As for your foolish argument about your loving me more than I do you, it's obviously useless to bandy words with one who ignores & certainly reverses the known facts, so we'll leave the matter – till next we meet. Florence is spring-cleaning our bedroom this morning, & when she's gone I propose to turn out all the cupboards. I notice you did not number your letter – perhaps it would be as well to do so. With all my love to you for ever, my darling (even if you [underlined] do [/underlined] think it's only half as much as yours) Yours always Ursula
PS. If you [underlined] want [/underlined] to give me an Easter Egg, do try & get a photo taken of yourself, in Lincoln or somewhere. P.P.S.I believe Lincoln Cathedral is very lovely.
My darling Johnny there's nothing very exciting to report. I spent the morning doing a mammoth wash, at lunch-time I typed out the fire-watching rota, subsequently took Frances to town – the usual round. Mrs Hazard popped in this evening, as friendly, not to say gushing, as ever. Doug, Olivia's husband, was last heard of in Java, & they've had no news for some weeks. They're still hoping he's got to Australia, but a pal of his has wired from Ceylon & there's no word from him there. It is wretched for poor Olivia. I told her about your Mother, & she said she would communicate.
I went to the concert yesterday, after much heart
[page break]
2.
searching, & [underlined] thoroughly [/underlined] enjoyed it. They played a modern overture & Dvorak's New world Symphony, but the main item was Myra Hess playing Beethoven's 4th concerto – it was really grand. They seem to be getting quite enterprising at the Orpheum nowadays, they are having concerts every Sunday evening, & Russian ballet on Thursdays. It is nice to have something a bit nearer home – not that I intend to make a habit of going!
My leisure moments were occupied today in repairing the draining boards in the kitchen, the flap broke off entirely this morning – luckily there was nothing on it at the time, so I bought three new hinges, & had
[page break]
3.
a grand time sitting on the backdoor mat in a rubber-neck attitude screwing them on. I got some oranges for Frances today. I had a present from the RAF too, the vouchers for the extra 1/- a week increase in the family allowance. It starts next Thursday, & will not be unwelcome, since every little helps. Tomorrow I intend taking Frances up to the clinic to be immunised against diphtheria. She's got rather a runny nose again, but I don't think that will matter, she's quite well
in every other way.
[page break]
4.
I sent off the New Statesman to you this afternoon. I didn't include a letter, partly because I hadn't time to write it but mainly because I've gone all honest.
There was no letter from you this morning, but I'm hoping confidently for something tomorrow, so I'll leave this open in case there's anything to reply to. So goodnight my dearest one. My thoughts are always with you, you seem so near to me & you are so very precious. Could you point out to the Adjutant that his telegram arrived too late for you enjoy the extra 24 hours leave & so you'll take
[page break]
5.
it next weekend & make it 48 hours? I'm sure he'd understand.
[underlined] Tuesday [/underlined] My darling, your letter of Sunday has just arrived, together with one from Frank, which I enclose herewith. He sent a P.O. for 5/-, but in view of what you write about finding 4/- on your bed, & of the fact that I have only 4d to last till Thursday, I am purloining this for current expenses.. You can tell Frank you bought a present for Frances with it. I'm so glad you had such an easy [deleted] trip [/deleted] [inserted] journey [/inserted] with the [deleted] baled-out [/deleted] crew – they looked decent fellows, - & that you have satisfactory billets. It's good to know that the station is generally efficient too, quite a change for you. I agree that the oftener you fly (& the more you stooge
[page break]
6.
round in the air over England!) the better. It would be grand if you could have finished your ops. by the autumn.
As for your foolish argument about your loving me more than I do you, it's obviously useless to bandy words with one who ignores & certainly reverses the known facts, so we'll leave the matter – till next we meet. Florence is spring-cleaning our bedroom this morning, & when she's gone I propose to turn out all the cupboards. I notice you did not number your letter – perhaps it would be as well to do so. With all my love to you for ever, my darling (even if you [underlined] do [/underlined] think it's only half as much as yours) Yours always Ursula
PS. If you [underlined] want [/underlined] to give me an Easter Egg, do try & get a photo taken of yourself, in Lincoln or somewhere. P.P.S.I believe Lincoln Cathedral is very lovely.
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/19859.
Item Relations
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