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Transcription of Letter
From
J.R. Derbyshire
Lister House
105, Boughton Green Rd
Kingsthorpe
Northampton
NN2 47L
England
To
John & Rose Derbyshire
15, Chestnut Street,
Huntington
New York 11743
U.S.A.
Lister House
March 28th 1992
My darlings John & Rosie,
Am really thrilled you've got your new home, I hope you have many happy years to come
there. Take it slowly both, you've got the rest of your lives to get it as you want. I try to picture you, especially
Rose, in her garden.
everything is waking up here, the daffs are out, trees are in bud but it's quite dull & cold, showers now &
then. I've had a stinking
cold, now in its nasty catarrhal stage & very chesty & wheezy. I'm hoping this will pass quickly. It's
Mothering Sunday today so Judy
popped in yesterday with a card & a bottle of sherry. it was nice to have a surprize visit. Phil is off to
Holland, so she's having to take
Marcus to Reading to his Driving place I've heard nothing of Tess
& no birthday gift has
arrived but I'm just not bothering
any more. I'm very disappointed in her & I think Judy is too on the quiet. "Sharper than a serpent's tooth is
child's ingratitude" as
Shakespeare says, not that I want gratitude, just a little caring thought from her. John you don't have to worry about
me & my finances, as
from April 9th the weekly amount goes up to £174 - 24p & then I shall have a bit more
from my index-linked pension
from 5th April so I shall put £160 in the bank every week & keep the £14 for my daily
expenses and save what I can from
this & unless
Peggy puts the fees up I think I shall be covered for the
£800 — (4
weekly.) if you can manage the phone bill for me & I wouldn't ask that if it didn't come the same time as my
quarterly insurance, if I can
keep that going there should be a bit for you & Judy & pay any funeral expenses when the time comes. If I reach
85 I don't have to pay any more & can leave it & still get the yearly
profits.
Auntie Win is now in a Council Home & according to
Mu grumbling about everything &
everybody Mu & Fred have emptied the cottage[1] & she
says it & the land should
fetch £20 - to £25,000 the
agent said the cottage wouldn't fetch much but the ground would be valuable. Win's paying £132+ a week & when
the property is sold the
council take back any costs & Win can't claim any pocket money or help, so Mu says unless Win lives to be 100 (God
forbid!!) there'll be
enough to keep her going & she's got over £2000 in the bank. Fred & Mu bought her 2 new chairs & a
portable TV pretty covers
& curtains for her room, but she doesn't like any of it & after Mu & Fred left her she sent the chairs back
to the shop. She is
naughty Mu & Fred are very good to her & from what Mu tells me she's better cared for than I am regarding
the home, but she keeps to her
room & won't mix She's always been very wilful & difficult, she's lucky to have Mu & Fred. Fred is 70
soon & Mu 75 in July so it
hasn't been easy for them bussing backwards & forwards to
Stourbridge getting 3 busses every
time.
The flowers I got from you a week
ago have kept very well I now have the carnations in a vase & the yellow & white flowers in a jug. The
yellow roses just going over a
bit but it was a most beautiful arrangement & has been much admired
Its windy & pouring with rain
& nearly dinner time, so I'll
finish this later darlings.
After tea Now just watching a very beautiful Chinese
girl in the skating competition, shes got very high marks & reminds me of Rosie in looks. Her name is L. Chen
The clocks were moved
forward an hour today, so I'm quite tired Hope you are getting settled in. Always in my thoughts
Musch
love as ever
X X X X Mother X X X