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Transcription of Letter
From
J R Derbyshire
62 Friars Avenue
Delapre
Northampton
England
To
John Derbyshire
126 Stevens Avenue
Valhalla
New York 10595
U.S.A.
62 Friars Av. 30-6-78
Dear John,
nice to hear from you but rather surprized about the news that you are leaving although I
should'nt be as you are following a pattern exactly like mine I did the same so let me tell what will follow
next. If you come home first
you will be fed up in six months. I knew I had made a mistake the moment I stept ashore but I had Noel & there was
more unemployed in the
world then, fewer jobs & a ½ of the population so I had no alternative, but I intended to return whe Noel
was older but the war
intervened & I was in the civil service so that was that. Now you crave for China. I can understand you wont be
happy till you have seen
Pekin so the sooner you get it out of your system the better, but dont forget you are in your prime & must make
your mind up now which way
you are going to go. So get all what you want to do out of your system because now time flies, & although its 45
years ago since I was your
age, it only seems yesterday. You have got skills I never had, remember the world alters quicker now so don stand still
but move with the times
& keep up to date & you know we are always with you so what you do & as I have always told you, I can only
advise you but its your
life & the best of luck. I hope you have as much luck as I did. When I look back I see now how much luck I had that
I only see it now. All we
want is to see you again. You dont want to bother about Kathie she knew
the score so forget her. &
dont bother about Tax we will work that out when you get here & as far as I can see you will only be Taxed on the
interest from your capital so
if you have $10,000 you should have no tax troubles & you will be eligable for unemployment pay so I would see
Barclays New York & get them
to transfer it to England. As you no doubt see, if you are going to wander about you dont want to carry a lot of money
on you because you wont be
able to be a Bum (Bowery or otherwise) with a gold watch &
chain & a pocket full of
travelers cheques. So ask the bank manager about transfer on the principle that you dont have to carry anything to
prove yourself other than your
passport, & in you dairy copy your passport number & identification of any other documents & Travelers
Cheque just in case you lose them,
its much easier to claim if you have identity. but I hope you come home first & then if you feel like it wander off
& if you do deceide we
are able to look after you & be glad to. so dont do any thing hasty I am sure it would be much cheaper to
take advantage of Laker & come home first & do the other after & also ease our minds
about seeing you. as you say,
if you go East first you may not want to leave You can let anyone interested know where to find you & if they
want you they will find you.
Never mind Jay (you should have learned by now "Dont trust you best
friend with your money or
girl" (Derbyshire 1978) & I think you will find its illegal to have a Swiss A/C in U.S A. & in any
case you have to personly
deposit the cash & as you say its not worth it & I think you will have to show a Tax clearence before you can
leave the U S A. I
feel sorry for Tom & I will drop him a line I did tell him
this would happen when he
stayed with us, but his wife said she would introduce you to some nice girls & give you a party for you to get you
married & anchored down. I
dont think Tom would be surprised. I was the same, always wanted to see what was on the other side of the hill &
when you have learnt your job
& there are no problems work gets boreing so I know how you feel & I want you to enjoy life while you are young
enough because these times
only come round once, no second chance. that is why I dont want you to get married & get boged down I know it
might seen hard but thats
life Mum & me worry about you Judy & children & always will do & we would'nt have it any other
way but its a burden we dont
want you to have to just for a few moments when you heart rules your head so love them & leave them Married
life is like working in a
chocolate Factory you soon learn to hate them, its the same with marriage you see "its there when you want it, but
the trouble its there when
you dont want it, & then the trouble starts Varity is the spice of life. Well I hope we shall see you
soon come & put your feet
up for a while before you wander off again. Have you got the packing case for all your things just send them here
like Judith did
Well all for now & we are keeping our fingers crossed
Dad X X X