Letter from Ursula Valentine to her husband John Valentine
Title
Letter from Ursula Valentine to her husband John Valentine
Description
Thanks him for recent letter and glad he liked photograph. Continues with news of daughter Frances standing and other activities. Mentions, unlike him, she has little time to read and comments on his pilot being high handed and asking if progress for his commission. Comments on Sir Stafford Cripps and Churchill. Continues with description of her activities.
Creator
Date
1942-05-04
Temporal Coverage
Language
Format
Two 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
EValentineUMValentineJRM420504
Transcription
[underlined] No 31 [/underlined] Lido
Monday May 4th
My dearest Johnny,
I’m sorry to write on this horrid paper, but it has got to be used up somehow, and the pad is really too big for my desk, and makes it more untidy than ever.
Thanks very much for your letter of Friday. I’m glad you like the photo of wife & child. I was going to send off the larger print today but Barbara wanted to retouch it first (sis on duty today) so I’ll post it tomorrow. Perhaps you’d send back the postcard then; they come in useful for sending to friends & relations.
Frances stood up by herself today. Of course I wasn’t there to witness the performance, but I left her sitting down & came back to find her standing holding her play pen. So that’s another step forward. I’ve put her out to sleep now, & instead she’s sitting in the end of the pram bouncing up & down & rocking it. It’s warm enough for her to wear rompers and silk dresses, & she looks very sweet in them. I think you’ll notice a considerable difference in her when you come – for instance she kneels up now and prefers to ride in the pram kneeling up and facing the way she’s going.
I do envy you all the reading you’re doing. I haven’t read a single book since we came back to Lido, there simply isn’t time in the evenings, when I’ve accounted for darning, mending new sewing & knitting, gardening, cake making and the savings group. I love the life I’m living now (except for you being in danger & away from me) I like being really occupied in house & garden, but I do wish there were 3 or 4 hours more in the 24, so that I could read & play the piano as well.
[page break]
It is a pity that Floyd is making such an ass of himself with his high-handedness. The only thing is for you to get a commission and then dress him down thoroughly. Is there no more progress in that direction?
I wonder if you heard Sir Stafford Cripps’ postscript last night? I thought it was very good indeed. If all goes well he’ll make a jolly good Prime Minister when Winnie goes – tho’ I don’t think that will be for some time yet.
I went to Evensong yesterday & the curate preached a sermon based largely on Dorothy Sayers book “Creed or Chaos”. He’s not an awfully good speaker. I should like to hear Bish one of these days – his sermons are probably full of funny stories! I’m looking forward to seeing him when you come on leave – but let’s not entertain more than once in the week, unless just for tea. I feel I want you all to myself, - the time is short enough anyway - & I’d like to play tennis & swim and dance with you, & sit and laze in the garden. I hope this weather holds when you come – and when oh when is that going to be??
The gardener has come, naturally, tho’ he said he wouldn't, so I mowed the back lawn myself on Saturday evening. I shall have to start on the hedges soon.
Must go to town now with Small. I shall look forward to seeing the local papers. By the way, have you any idea what text books you ought to have? I could start enquiring & searching for them if the authorities have given you any suggestions.
All my love to you, dearest one
[underlined] Ursula [/underlined]
Monday May 4th
My dearest Johnny,
I’m sorry to write on this horrid paper, but it has got to be used up somehow, and the pad is really too big for my desk, and makes it more untidy than ever.
Thanks very much for your letter of Friday. I’m glad you like the photo of wife & child. I was going to send off the larger print today but Barbara wanted to retouch it first (sis on duty today) so I’ll post it tomorrow. Perhaps you’d send back the postcard then; they come in useful for sending to friends & relations.
Frances stood up by herself today. Of course I wasn’t there to witness the performance, but I left her sitting down & came back to find her standing holding her play pen. So that’s another step forward. I’ve put her out to sleep now, & instead she’s sitting in the end of the pram bouncing up & down & rocking it. It’s warm enough for her to wear rompers and silk dresses, & she looks very sweet in them. I think you’ll notice a considerable difference in her when you come – for instance she kneels up now and prefers to ride in the pram kneeling up and facing the way she’s going.
I do envy you all the reading you’re doing. I haven’t read a single book since we came back to Lido, there simply isn’t time in the evenings, when I’ve accounted for darning, mending new sewing & knitting, gardening, cake making and the savings group. I love the life I’m living now (except for you being in danger & away from me) I like being really occupied in house & garden, but I do wish there were 3 or 4 hours more in the 24, so that I could read & play the piano as well.
[page break]
It is a pity that Floyd is making such an ass of himself with his high-handedness. The only thing is for you to get a commission and then dress him down thoroughly. Is there no more progress in that direction?
I wonder if you heard Sir Stafford Cripps’ postscript last night? I thought it was very good indeed. If all goes well he’ll make a jolly good Prime Minister when Winnie goes – tho’ I don’t think that will be for some time yet.
I went to Evensong yesterday & the curate preached a sermon based largely on Dorothy Sayers book “Creed or Chaos”. He’s not an awfully good speaker. I should like to hear Bish one of these days – his sermons are probably full of funny stories! I’m looking forward to seeing him when you come on leave – but let’s not entertain more than once in the week, unless just for tea. I feel I want you all to myself, - the time is short enough anyway - & I’d like to play tennis & swim and dance with you, & sit and laze in the garden. I hope this weather holds when you come – and when oh when is that going to be??
The gardener has come, naturally, tho’ he said he wouldn't, so I mowed the back lawn myself on Saturday evening. I shall have to start on the hedges soon.
Must go to town now with Small. I shall look forward to seeing the local papers. By the way, have you any idea what text books you ought to have? I could start enquiring & searching for them if the authorities have given you any suggestions.
All my love to you, dearest one
[underlined] Ursula [/underlined]
Collection
Citation
Ursula Valentine, “Letter from Ursula Valentine to her husband John Valentine,” IBCC Digital Archive, accessed July 22, 2024, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/document/19889.
Item Relations
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