Letter from Reginald Weeden to his mother
Title
Letter from Reginald Weeden to his mother
Description
Mentions he wrote this letter just after airgraph and ask he to let him know how long each took to arrive. Writes that he is settling but it is cold with snow but they are comfortably billeted with amazing food. Says there is no shortage of food despite rationing. Mentions cost of living in Canada and finance as well as routine and availability of items at drug store. Describes local area and asks after family and home news.
Creator
Date
1943-03-03
Temporal Coverage
Language
Format
Four page handwritten letter
Conforms To
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
EWeedenRCCartwrightI430303-0001, EWeedenRCCartwrightI430303-0002, EWeedenRCCartwrightI430303-0003, EWeedenRCCartwrightI430303-0004
Transcription
[Royal Air Force crest]
1602823 LAC WEEDEN RC.
31 PD. RAF. STATION
1 SQUADRON 48A/6
MONCTON, NEW BRUNSWICK
CANADA.
3.3.43
My dear Mum,
I started this letter directly after the Airgraph – which I trust you received, so when you write let me know how long both took to arrive. Well I am once again settling down although it is very cold here, its snowing at present and is six inches deep, I expect this will be greatly increased before the day is out. We are very comfortably billetted [sic] though, with central heating throughout and we are amazed at the meals we get, example for tea yesterday, two boiled eggs, bread & butter, cheese and jam, and this morning, egg & bacon and the choice of hot milk
[page break]
[underlined] 2 [/underlined]
or tea. There is no shortage of foodstuffs here, although rationing has been introduced, we can still go into a shop and buy practically anything, the only snag though is the price we have to pay. A haircut is 45 to 60 cents, this is about 2 to 3 shillings, so you see we have to be very careful with our money, especially now that we are dealing with dollars, cents etc. I handed my English currency in, on board ship the day before we docked and will receive the equivalent for it within the next day or so. To carry us on until then we were paid 11 dollars on arrival. I needed this to send the cable. We are not allowed out of camp until 5 oclock [sic] but we don’t have to worry about early closing, Post Offices open until 9 pm and
[page break]
[underlined] 3 [/underlined]
[Royal Air Force crest]
drug stores and cafes until 2 am. Of course the drug store sells anything out in this country, from patent medicines to a soda fountain, they also sell wrist watches in a fruit shop. Regarding watches I shall get one before I return together with one or two other useful articles. Even with all these facilities, I doubt if you would like this country wooden houses, and the roads are very poor in this part, and then again very cold this time of the year, of course there is no black-out and everything looks so bright with all the neon lights flashing in and out, but still nothing can beat the old home. How is everything at Oxford? I shall be eager to hear all the news now that I am all this distance away – about 3000 miles – it
[page break]
[underlined] 4 [/underlined]
may not sound a lot, but when you have travelled it by ship it gets very monotonous waking up day in and day out and there is nothing but sea all around you. I would have rather travelled this distance by car if it had been possible. How is Bill getting along with his two lorries? I hope it is paying him well. He is building up quite a business. The typewriter should come in handy now!!
Well Mum, don’t worry about me out here for I shall look after myself, so I will close now sending you my love. I will write again soon. Regards to Dennis and Bill.
Reg xxxxxxx
To Evelyn xxxxxx
1602823 LAC WEEDEN RC.
31 PD. RAF. STATION
1 SQUADRON 48A/6
MONCTON, NEW BRUNSWICK
CANADA.
3.3.43
My dear Mum,
I started this letter directly after the Airgraph – which I trust you received, so when you write let me know how long both took to arrive. Well I am once again settling down although it is very cold here, its snowing at present and is six inches deep, I expect this will be greatly increased before the day is out. We are very comfortably billetted [sic] though, with central heating throughout and we are amazed at the meals we get, example for tea yesterday, two boiled eggs, bread & butter, cheese and jam, and this morning, egg & bacon and the choice of hot milk
[page break]
[underlined] 2 [/underlined]
or tea. There is no shortage of foodstuffs here, although rationing has been introduced, we can still go into a shop and buy practically anything, the only snag though is the price we have to pay. A haircut is 45 to 60 cents, this is about 2 to 3 shillings, so you see we have to be very careful with our money, especially now that we are dealing with dollars, cents etc. I handed my English currency in, on board ship the day before we docked and will receive the equivalent for it within the next day or so. To carry us on until then we were paid 11 dollars on arrival. I needed this to send the cable. We are not allowed out of camp until 5 oclock [sic] but we don’t have to worry about early closing, Post Offices open until 9 pm and
[page break]
[underlined] 3 [/underlined]
[Royal Air Force crest]
drug stores and cafes until 2 am. Of course the drug store sells anything out in this country, from patent medicines to a soda fountain, they also sell wrist watches in a fruit shop. Regarding watches I shall get one before I return together with one or two other useful articles. Even with all these facilities, I doubt if you would like this country wooden houses, and the roads are very poor in this part, and then again very cold this time of the year, of course there is no black-out and everything looks so bright with all the neon lights flashing in and out, but still nothing can beat the old home. How is everything at Oxford? I shall be eager to hear all the news now that I am all this distance away – about 3000 miles – it
[page break]
[underlined] 4 [/underlined]
may not sound a lot, but when you have travelled it by ship it gets very monotonous waking up day in and day out and there is nothing but sea all around you. I would have rather travelled this distance by car if it had been possible. How is Bill getting along with his two lorries? I hope it is paying him well. He is building up quite a business. The typewriter should come in handy now!!
Well Mum, don’t worry about me out here for I shall look after myself, so I will close now sending you my love. I will write again soon. Regards to Dennis and Bill.
Reg xxxxxxx
To Evelyn xxxxxx
Collection
Citation
R C Weeden, “Letter from Reginald Weeden to his mother,” IBCC Digital Archive, accessed April 25, 2024, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/document/33532.
Item Relations
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