Letter to Douglas Hudson from his parents
Title
Letter to Douglas Hudson from his parents
Description
Reports on latest consignment of letters which arrived in May. Catches up with news of friends. Mentions his culinary efforts and that neighbour had brought round rhubarb for her. Continues with more on rationing. Writes of wonderful sunrise, the effect of double summer time and comments on the weather.
Creator
Date
1942-06-09
Spatial 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
EHudsonP-HEHudsonJD420609
Transcription
[inserted] 150 [/inserted]
[underlined] 50 [/underlined]
[inserted] 11-7-42 [/inserted]
191 Halifax Road
Nelson Lancs.
England.
Tues. a.m. June 9th/42
My dear Douglas.
I have just been reading your letter dated Feb. 3rd which arrived in the batch of 15 in one week during May. That is the latest consignment but as I now realize that the letters are mostly merely delayed I don’t [deleted] wory [/deleted] [inserted] worry [/inserted] quite so much. I might say once again what a lot of pleasure I get from them. As I have previously mentioned I always leave the newest ones out with my recent papers & books & just pick one out any time & read it. My choice this morning told of many letters you received at the end of December including one from John. I have no news whatever of Dorothy’s husband since the letter last October telling of a prospective visit to Bury & they would like to come out to see us here. Of course I wrote & said we would give them a warm welcome. If Derek’s promotion has been so rapid the leave may not have materialized. It is a big move in a very short time. I have never heard a word about Bill since he called to see you so long ago. To revert to the domestic side of your letter & to your jam making. Four hours seems a very long time to boil the figs. It’s a wonder there is any goodness left in the fruit. Last night my neighbour Miss Chester brought a lot of rhubarb & I am going to make some jam too. We get some very weird & wonderful stuff as
[page break]
our ration of 4 ozs each per week. I take my issue in marmalade whenever possible & that is almost always & the marmalade seems to have remained at its usual standard. Did I tell you that strawberries are controlled at 2/10 lb & rhubarb at 1/- a lb. rhubarb 1/- a lb!! Isn’t it ridiculous but my grocer told me on Friday that townspeople have great difficulty in getting it. No doubt transport is the main difficulty. I am just realizing that it is several days since I wrote to you but you seem to be so much in my thoughts & I imagine you very near to me especially during periods of marvellous natural beauty. We got up this morning to an enchanted world. A marvellous sunrise bathing all around with golden light. That was really 4 a.m. As you know we have double summer time. The 2 extra hours make a lot of differences & we seem to live at present in perpetual day. Unfortunately we have much cold weather yet & the coal problem is very acute. From Wednesday to Saturday last week was really summer. Then on Sunday it was cold as winter & again yesterday & this morning. Your birthday cable reply arrived on June 2nd & I sent a message to you on Saturday [inserted] June 6th [/inserted] as follows. “Hurrah for fifteen letters, five photos, three cables, during May. Interested journalistic effort. Keep going. Hot. All love. Hudson.” & it was hot, in town, in the sun. Now love my page is used again so it must be goodbye. Will try to send one or two books when we go to town. They have to be sent through a reputable dealer & the nearest is Manchester. Always all our love & thoughts & prayers. Mother & Dad.
755052 Hudson
Camp Militaire
LAGHOUAT Algerie
[underlined] 50 [/underlined]
[inserted] 11-7-42 [/inserted]
191 Halifax Road
Nelson Lancs.
England.
Tues. a.m. June 9th/42
My dear Douglas.
I have just been reading your letter dated Feb. 3rd which arrived in the batch of 15 in one week during May. That is the latest consignment but as I now realize that the letters are mostly merely delayed I don’t [deleted] wory [/deleted] [inserted] worry [/inserted] quite so much. I might say once again what a lot of pleasure I get from them. As I have previously mentioned I always leave the newest ones out with my recent papers & books & just pick one out any time & read it. My choice this morning told of many letters you received at the end of December including one from John. I have no news whatever of Dorothy’s husband since the letter last October telling of a prospective visit to Bury & they would like to come out to see us here. Of course I wrote & said we would give them a warm welcome. If Derek’s promotion has been so rapid the leave may not have materialized. It is a big move in a very short time. I have never heard a word about Bill since he called to see you so long ago. To revert to the domestic side of your letter & to your jam making. Four hours seems a very long time to boil the figs. It’s a wonder there is any goodness left in the fruit. Last night my neighbour Miss Chester brought a lot of rhubarb & I am going to make some jam too. We get some very weird & wonderful stuff as
[page break]
our ration of 4 ozs each per week. I take my issue in marmalade whenever possible & that is almost always & the marmalade seems to have remained at its usual standard. Did I tell you that strawberries are controlled at 2/10 lb & rhubarb at 1/- a lb. rhubarb 1/- a lb!! Isn’t it ridiculous but my grocer told me on Friday that townspeople have great difficulty in getting it. No doubt transport is the main difficulty. I am just realizing that it is several days since I wrote to you but you seem to be so much in my thoughts & I imagine you very near to me especially during periods of marvellous natural beauty. We got up this morning to an enchanted world. A marvellous sunrise bathing all around with golden light. That was really 4 a.m. As you know we have double summer time. The 2 extra hours make a lot of differences & we seem to live at present in perpetual day. Unfortunately we have much cold weather yet & the coal problem is very acute. From Wednesday to Saturday last week was really summer. Then on Sunday it was cold as winter & again yesterday & this morning. Your birthday cable reply arrived on June 2nd & I sent a message to you on Saturday [inserted] June 6th [/inserted] as follows. “Hurrah for fifteen letters, five photos, three cables, during May. Interested journalistic effort. Keep going. Hot. All love. Hudson.” & it was hot, in town, in the sun. Now love my page is used again so it must be goodbye. Will try to send one or two books when we go to town. They have to be sent through a reputable dealer & the nearest is Manchester. Always all our love & thoughts & prayers. Mother & Dad.
755052 Hudson
Camp Militaire
LAGHOUAT Algerie
Collection
Citation
P Hudson, “Letter to Douglas Hudson from his parents,” IBCC Digital Archive, accessed April 20, 2024, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/document/23695.
Item Relations
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