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Transcription of Letter
From
J.R. Derbyshire
62 Friars Avenue
NORTHAMPTON
England
To
John Derbyshire
2 Harbor Lane
New Rochelle
New York 10805
U.S.A.
62 Friars Ave: 21/12/73
Dear Son.
It was nice to hear from you & a pleasant one to get your cheque & I assure was very welcome because
this is the one time of the
year that one can spend money, without counting every penny & not feel guilty. We are both very pleased to hear of
your continued progress &
I am sure you will feel much better in health by using your physical strength. I dont think there is a better feeling
than being tired & hungry
& having good food & a bed to satisfy both. Your offer of help is a very nice gesture & makes me feel I
have failed somewere but I
assure we both appreciate it as to keep warm in this climate is the worst thing we have to worry about & to be able
to have it is luxury. I cant
express my thanks in words but look after yourself first as I know, only too well, A good Bank Balance is the best
friend you can have so do look
after yourself, as we manage to make a go of it only for heating in winter & every 6 months the price goes up &
on top of that it looks as if
we are going to have a series of strikes & I am sure, in my life I have seen hard times, had to sleep outside many
times when it wasn't possible
to earn money. I have seen mankind advance from very primative environment to an affluent society in my life time,
from oil lamps & coal fires to
what we have now. & yet for all this there are still poor, starvation, slums, so what is the answer. I have come
to the conclusion that it will
always be the same. I look at the animals who have been on earth longer than us & the same rules applies & I
have come to the conclusion that
whatever advance man makes there is a deterioration in other ways that counteracts any advancement. Take food, its
vastly inferior to when I was
young with additives which are injurious to health. I dread to think what it will be like by the time you are my age.
enough of my meanderings.
you seem to have a nice boss, as you say its partly self interest, & so is yours, as having a good boss, a job were
you wont be in the cold
plenty to eat, good digs is worth a lot whilst the winter is with us. look after it. but I have no doubt, if you can
get your works permit, you
will be looking for something better which is only natural. So it suits both of you, so don't do anything to
jeopardise it. I know you wont
intentionly but it does happen accidentaly sometimes.
Yes I suppose our position is our own fault & as you say our arrogance over the years has
made us wide open to the back lash which we will now, as to tell Briton where to get off is the ambition of every
country in the world, & which
would have been unthinkable years ago but we shall never learn as all our Statesmen still think we are a great power
& look up to put on a
pedestal such people a Churchill etc as if they are any different than we are.
Dont worry about Mum's operation I will say we have got a doctor who
looks after both of us. he told me he wanted to see me every month for a check up, so you need have any worry there.
We are looking forward to a
nice Xmas with
Allan Judith Tessa so
perhaps, who knows we may all be
together again just a thought. I hope you are not under the impression that
you owe us anything all we want is to do what you want to do & keep healthy & be good to animals, children,
& enjoy yourself we shall be
quite happy. By the way we have just had a letter from Vicky who says
she used to work with a
man who knew you a Colin GRIBBIN but she has now lost touch since he went to Canada. She wishes to be remembered to
you & wants us to visit them
at Croydon. Uncle Jack (her father) had a stroke & she says
he seem to have given up sad as
he
is no age[1]. Still if life isnt worth fighting for it isnt worth
living.
Judith just
rang to say would we have Tessa so she can do her shopping so she will be with us till Xmas. She loves getting
down here as we can give more time to her than Judith can & she livens us up we are always glad to have her. Well
there isn't much more to tell
you as Mum tells you all the news what I can tell you is only (Stop Press) they have had heavy falls of snow in
Scotland & the North so far we
have been lucky but we keep having those cold North winds gale force & it gets through all the cracks which makes
it cold inside the house
without it is Hermeticaly sealed then we would all suffocate. any way the experts say we shall have a nice summer.
Noel is calling in to see me on
Sat. he is coming to pick his Ma in law as she is on her own. So Cheerio for now look after yourself. we are always
in our thoughts & will be
talking about you at Xmas so if your ears are burning roung about lunch time Xmas day you will know what it is all
about so take care & have a
good Christmas
Love DAD MUM