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Transcription of Letter
From
J R Derbyshire
62 Friars Avenue
Delapre
Northampton
England
To
John Derbyshire
14 Legion Drive
Valhalla
New York 10595
U.S.A.
62 Friars Av 9/9/76
Dear John,
We are waiting for your letter or Phone Call, in fact I am running a book on when we shall next
hear from you & are wondering if you are keep fit has backfired on you (only kidding) I was the same at your
age so I have experienced
both sides.
I went to see about Boswell, last volume of. I saw
Mrs Billingham who can hardly get about, & she said
her son, who runs the shop,
was on holiday & could I come back in about 2 weeks, as that was about the time
Tom & Family were calling & I could send it back with
him, but of course whn I went she said they had'nt found it yet, but she promised me if it was'nt found she would see I
got the volume so I left it
at that. The 2 weeks have gone by so I called again this morning & saw the Son & told him what his mother had
promised me & the same old
story. I asked him to give me a dead line as to when I could call & either collect the missing Book or do as his
mother promised get another. He
said he couldnt say when he would find it. I said are you sure it was there to be found & he replied, he would not
have bought it with a volume
missing which sounds fair enough & mentioned he had just got another issue which was larger & more expensive
than yours & he would swop
them for the ones you have, thinking I had them here so I told him, if, when I called again & he had'nt found
the missing volume I would
buy the ones he had just acquired. So we will have to wait & see when I call in 2 weeks time sorry about
it
I think Tom & Family enjoyed themselves over here & I gave him
the watch to give you. it still goes, I wound it up just before Tom
called & it went O.K.
There is a press down button on the rim which isn't working that is for stopping the watch when used as a stop watch
& the long sweep indictor
indicates the seconds or 10th of seconds on to rim of the face & when you want to move the fingers just lift up
gently the winding knob &
turn.
Well I am glad I have got all that off my chest. Just now I am on my own Mum has gone to the
over 65 club, held in the school by Aunty Cissie's, which is
held every Thursday with outing
in between. Yesterday they left here at 9-45 am & went to Luton to
some club & in the winter
they go to Shows in different towns. They are a gay lot these old ones. I have no doubt you have read about the
drought. its very serious, springs
are drying up & fish in the rivers are dying for lack of oxygen owing to the shortage of water, & a lot of the
canals are closed. There are
standpipes in the streets of a lot of towns other towns cut water off for 14-15 hrs every night our turn
comes in Oct. 16. we could have
been without water here but some one thought out a scheme to reverse the flow of the river ouse in Leicester, where
there is a big reservoir for this
area but we dont know how long it will last & if there is'nt heavy rain & snow this winter, we are in the shit,
so keep your fingers crossed
& make room for 2 lodgers. life was never like this years ago We used to get water out of a well which never
failed no flush W.C.s no
washing machines etc I am afraid we have been taking it all for granted, turn the tap & there you are.
Well I have no doubt Mum keeps you up to date with the local news. Judith's wedding, she came down
last night to show us the photos taken all very nice I hope, for her sake all turns out OK. Its little
Tessa I think about she is just at
an impressionable age & naturaly think that is the usual thing. Allan came over with his new wife & took Tessa
over to Berlin & borrowed
his Dad's car & the 3 of them toured Europe for 2 weeks, & he wants her to be put on the plane to Los Angles
next year & he will meet her
there for summer hols nex year. She (Tessa) gets more beautiful every day
& she is life to Mum &
Me, & she loves to get here.
We have had 2 days or rather one night & one days rain so things are looking up. I read in the
paper you had a heat wave. We had 9 weeks touching 90% every & no rain it was lovely & now we have to pay
for it as all vegetables,
spuds & greens are burnt up so I dont know how we shall fare this winter. Spuds are
1/3 lb fruit
sky high in price so what it will be is anyones guess Everything goes up every year between 12½ to 40% so
when it does stop raising in
two years time goodness knows how much things will be so take my advise & stay put as there is no future here for
at least next 6 yrs, &
remember what I have always told you stay single without she has a hefty bank balance. The trouble when you are married
& the newness has worn
off you will feel let down. the thing you married for is there whether you want it or not & believe me that would
try the patience of an angel
& dont swallow all that love stuff in my day we used to pay lip service to it but you are more enlightened
now days
Well I hope I have not bored you with my moans & news So keep your chin up perhaps
the future is better than now all my future is behind me so it does'nt matter.
Well I am pleased to say we are keeping fit eating & walking & sleeping well hope you
are the same
Dad
look after yourself
X X X X
we are O.K.