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Transcription of Letter
From
Mrs J.R. Derbyshire
62, Friars Avenue
Delapre
Northampton
England NNP. 9PX
To
Mr John Derbyshire
Siping Teacher's College
Siping City
Jilin Province
People's Republic of China
March 2nd.
My dear Son,
I have been holding a letter back in case one came from you, but several weeks have gone by &
still no news. You know how I worry. I imagine all kinds of dire things do write dear please. I hope you
enjoyed your trip to Hong Kong
& had a happy time with the Chans. I told you about Dad in my last letter, he has to see a surgeon tomorrow,
Thursday at 2 pm, but quite
frankly, I can't see what they can do at his age, if they do find anything "nasty in the wood shed"!!
We've had a water strike for
several weeks, but it didn't affect us, many people had no water at all & many had to collect from stand pipes.
Now there's talk of a coal
strike, the mixture as before!!
January was mild & quite sunny, but February has been bitterly cold with strong winds, snow, ice, etc. The
birds have had a great time on the pool, which was a thick sheet of ice, they slid all over the place & seemed to
be really enjoying themselves.
Well dear, today, I've written to the tax people to ask if they can tell me what's happening about your rebate. Next
Monday the plumber is coming to
put in the new bathroom suit, that is bath, pedestal, bowl, & low level lavatory. I've paid for the suite, it was
an offer from Travis &
Arnold at £234 — that includes £30 VAT. it was
reduced from
£300+. I don't yet know how much the labour will be, probably £150 or so. Then next Thursday, the men are
coming to put in a new bay
window fully insulated & a new bathroom window I have £732 to pay for this having already paid
£82 deposit. Dad is giving us
£200 so if you can let me have £200 John or whatever you can afford, it will go back into the Halifax. From April your mortgage goes down to £101-74. This is called
Net Rate Annuity &
you don't get tax allowance. There are papers explaining it which I will send to you. I took your books in at the end
of January & this is how
you now stand. On your one account you had £789.20 This does not take in your Feb repayment. Your interest
was £28-79. On your
other book you have £175.92 interest in a total now of £4,323.79. I hope I have done right! thought you'd
like to know.
Things are
waking up in the garden, later I hope to put some fence across the bottom, I have to make less work outside, Dad won't
be able to cut hedges now, so
my next project is this & having the bit of grass at the front replaced with paving stones & a bit of low fence
between us &
Taylors. The other windows will have to
wait. It leaves the 3 bedroom
windows now. I wish I could do it all love before you come home, but never mind, it will come eventually. It's now
March 7th & still
no news, you can't imagine John the state I'm in. If you are fit its cruel not to write for so long, surely, if you are
sick some-one will let us
know, please put us out of our misery!! Dad has to have a Barium Meal & X Rays on March 30th. It's a
lovely Spring day & I'm trying
to tidy the front up a bit, but the Arthritis in my hands & wrists restrict me more than I thought.
Tuesday 9 am. No letter, for God's sake why are you trying
to kill me!! Just going to
post.
Love as always
Mother
X X X