Letter to John Valentine from his wife Ursula
Title
Letter to John Valentine from his wife Ursula
Description
Thanks him for letter and apologises over her attitude about his knees and mentions that other doctor says it ought to be curable with infra-red. Continues with local news about a fine supper, of her other daily activities including cycling to neighbour on business and lists other activities. Writes that a parcel she sent in May 1944 has been returned intact and lists contents. Concludes with various travel arrangements.
Creator
Date
1945-08-23
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.
Contributor
Identifier
EValentineUMValentineJRM450823
Transcription
Start of transcription
Felmersham.
Aug 23rd
My darling Johnnie,
Thank you so much for todays letter with one from Eric Magee enclosed. He certainly does sound a nice fellow, hope I may meet him & his wife some day.
I’m sorry I was such an ass as to cry about your knees, & regret still more that I admitted it. However it positively shan’t occur again! I mentioned the trouble to Dr Novokovsky, she says it ought to be curable & wants to come round here with her infra-red lamp
[page break]
2.
& have a go at it. Is infra-red what they are treating it with now? The Mores had their celebration at the Pond last night, & a very fine supper it was, lobster mayonnaise, steak & chips, fruit salad & cream & coffee – God knows what it cost them, there were 6 of us. I had an exceptionally hectic day of it. I spent the morning turning out our bedroom, p.m. painted the dinging room floor & kitchen surrounds, then when the rain stopped towards 4 pm went out on SSAFA business, visited Mrs Kinsey & then over to Little Chalfont (my bike with F on the back) to see a Mrs Pearce, a most melodramatic case which may turn into
[page break]
3.
murder before its through (when the husband comes home on leave). She poured out her woes in a steady stream till 6.15 pm, nevertheless by strenuous cycling we got home by 6.35, fed & put Frances to bed, got changed & was down at the Pond by 7 pm! When I got home at nearly 11 pm of course the house was still in the uproar I’d left it in when painting the floor, big sideboard in hall, & everything else in the kitchen. I couldn’t face it, so I went to bed, & put it to rights this morning. Today by way of a change I went on strike & spent part of the morning planting out Siberian wallflowers that Palmer had brought the night
[page break]
4.
before. After lunch I had to write SSAFA reports, that’s why this letter to you didn’t get done. I’m going to post it tonight & hope it reaches you on Saturday. By 4 pm when I’d finished Frances was browned off, so we jumped on the bike & took a picnic over to St Peter’s Common where there are permanent swings, see-saw etc & also at present a fair. She went on roundabouts & swings & thoroughly enjoyed herself, & is very keen to take you on Saturday if you come, the last day of the fair. She’s a devil for swings & things, nothing seems to shake her.
Another parcel I sent
[page break]
5
to you in May 1944 has come home to roost, perfectly intact & in good condition. It contained among other things, 2 vests, 2 pants & a blanket, which will be useful here. Also 3 pairs khaki socks which I don’t think you’ll ever need & propose, with your consent, to give to the Dutch.
The arrangements for Frances’s holiday are at present that she will travel on Friday 31st Aug, by the 10.30 am if poss, in [indecipherable word] by 1.15 pm. I could therefore come up to Loughborough by the afternoon train if I make it snappy, but wondered if you would prefer to come home for the
[page break]
6.
weekend & I’d travel back with you on Sunday afternoon. It would be slightly cheaper tho’ not much as your fare would be extra. I leave it to you to decide. I’m looking forward so much to being with you again for a while, my darling, it seems simply ages since you were home. I do hope you’ll be able to wangle a 36 this weekend.
All my love, dearest, you’re so precious & I love you terribly.
Yours always
Ursula.
Felmersham.
Aug 23rd
My darling Johnnie,
Thank you so much for todays letter with one from Eric Magee enclosed. He certainly does sound a nice fellow, hope I may meet him & his wife some day.
I’m sorry I was such an ass as to cry about your knees, & regret still more that I admitted it. However it positively shan’t occur again! I mentioned the trouble to Dr Novokovsky, she says it ought to be curable & wants to come round here with her infra-red lamp
[page break]
2.
& have a go at it. Is infra-red what they are treating it with now? The Mores had their celebration at the Pond last night, & a very fine supper it was, lobster mayonnaise, steak & chips, fruit salad & cream & coffee – God knows what it cost them, there were 6 of us. I had an exceptionally hectic day of it. I spent the morning turning out our bedroom, p.m. painted the dinging room floor & kitchen surrounds, then when the rain stopped towards 4 pm went out on SSAFA business, visited Mrs Kinsey & then over to Little Chalfont (my bike with F on the back) to see a Mrs Pearce, a most melodramatic case which may turn into
[page break]
3.
murder before its through (when the husband comes home on leave). She poured out her woes in a steady stream till 6.15 pm, nevertheless by strenuous cycling we got home by 6.35, fed & put Frances to bed, got changed & was down at the Pond by 7 pm! When I got home at nearly 11 pm of course the house was still in the uproar I’d left it in when painting the floor, big sideboard in hall, & everything else in the kitchen. I couldn’t face it, so I went to bed, & put it to rights this morning. Today by way of a change I went on strike & spent part of the morning planting out Siberian wallflowers that Palmer had brought the night
[page break]
4.
before. After lunch I had to write SSAFA reports, that’s why this letter to you didn’t get done. I’m going to post it tonight & hope it reaches you on Saturday. By 4 pm when I’d finished Frances was browned off, so we jumped on the bike & took a picnic over to St Peter’s Common where there are permanent swings, see-saw etc & also at present a fair. She went on roundabouts & swings & thoroughly enjoyed herself, & is very keen to take you on Saturday if you come, the last day of the fair. She’s a devil for swings & things, nothing seems to shake her.
Another parcel I sent
[page break]
5
to you in May 1944 has come home to roost, perfectly intact & in good condition. It contained among other things, 2 vests, 2 pants & a blanket, which will be useful here. Also 3 pairs khaki socks which I don’t think you’ll ever need & propose, with your consent, to give to the Dutch.
The arrangements for Frances’s holiday are at present that she will travel on Friday 31st Aug, by the 10.30 am if poss, in [indecipherable word] by 1.15 pm. I could therefore come up to Loughborough by the afternoon train if I make it snappy, but wondered if you would prefer to come home for the
[page break]
6.
weekend & I’d travel back with you on Sunday afternoon. It would be slightly cheaper tho’ not much as your fare would be extra. I leave it to you to decide. I’m looking forward so much to being with you again for a while, my darling, it seems simply ages since you were home. I do hope you’ll be able to wangle a 36 this weekend.
All my love, dearest, you’re so precious & I love you terribly.
Yours always
Ursula.
Collection
Citation
Ursula Valentine, “Letter to John Valentine from his wife Ursula,” IBCC Digital Archive, accessed July 3, 2024, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/document/20485.
Item Relations
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