8 January 1961 Christmas presents show and tell, budgerigars and Russ Conway makes another appearance


8 January 1961


My dear Len and Margaret

Sunday 10 to 8pm. It’s not a nice evening, so Margaret and Charles are not going to turn up. Many thanks for your nice and interesting letter saying all about your Christmas holidays[1]. You all seem to have had a very pleasant time and a nice meal,  also nice gifts. We are pleased that you liked your skirt and cardigan. Yes the cardigan was chosen to go with your skirt. We are pleased that Susan liked her basket, we all liked it too. 

Your Christmas was a little spoilt by poor Roselle sickening for mumps and having ear ache. It was a pity for her really. Mumps are very nasty and as you say complications set in which made it worse. We are pleased that she is better again. The photo you sent of Roselle is very good, she certainly has grown, she still has her smile. Her outfit skirt and jumper looks very nice.

You say you had been to midnight mass also Susan. It was nice to have your neighbour friends to go with you and that they had asked you to go to in to them when you returned to have a drink. It was nice for Len to go in too, made it more pleasant. You also say it was 4am when you went to bed, you must have felt very tired the next day. Still this is only one occasion, it would not do for always, would it?

Yes, I’m sure you had a pleasant Christmas AM opening your gifts. This took some time and as you say put the dinner a little late. This did not matter on Christmas day. We were late too, most people were late with their dinner on that day.  Very nice of Len to move the couch towards the fire and also making a nice fire, which made it very pleasant for you all. That was very nice of Mr and Mrs Mc Vie to treat you on the Tuesday and Thursday to lunch at an hotel. This must have been very nice. 

Margaret says she bought an ice cake from the Walls man. Kay also bought one on Christmas afternoon, she had ordered it before. I like this ice cake very much, don’t you? Does Len like it too? No doubt the children love it too.

I quite believe John was delighted with his first watch. You say Paul had a football, is he a football fan? Fancy Paul is already 10 years old, I’m sorry we forgot his birthday in time, but you know with all the Christmas parties, etc., we are bound to forget these things. Still better late than never.

Yes, Rodney’s engagement came to us as a surprise and I guess to everyone else, he’s doing the right thing, so that his parents can see him settled while they are still there.

Well, well, you seem to have a tea trolley the same as ours except that you have green metal with the gold , while we have red metal. They are very nice tea trolleys, are they not? I have given my old one to Auntie Blanche, she was pleased to have it.

I hope your colds are better now, this kind of weather brings colds, it’s always too damp. Please thank Susan for her little letter card of thanks, she asks if I saw Russ Conway on TV. Yes, I did on the Billy Cotton Band Show. He was in good form. I sat on the arm of the armchair near the TV to watch Russ. He gave me such a lovely smile when he saw me, then believe me or not, but this is the truth, he gave me a second broad smile, as he was doing so, I wished him a happy Christmas. He then bowed his thanks to me in such a lovely way. Papa and Charles noticed it, they laughed. Yes, I was proud of it. Please tell Susan about it.

I will now stop for today it has just gone 9pm. I will be getting the milk ready and go to bed a bit early. I always feel ready for my bed in the evening.

Monday 7:15pm. Here I am again to get on with my work of letter writing. It has been a miserable wet and cold day. Roselle is not back yet. On leaving work she was going to a friend (one of her girls at work). This was for the purpose of looking through leaflets to see about their holiday and decide where they would like to go. I think she will soon be back. We generally cover up Joey at 7 o’clock but I have not done so yet. I thought perhaps Roselle will like to say ‘hello’ to him when she comes home, but if she is not on the 7:30 bus. I will cover him, he will be getting sleepy. He loves music on the radio and I think he likes a lot of talking around him, he’s very active.

Roselle has not returned. I’ve put Joey to bed. There is to be an election for Constable at St Peter on Tuesday 17th which is next week, the candidates are W Le Marquand and T Le Cappelain. I don’t know if there is much choice between the two, but since there is only these two men taking, I would prefer Le Marquand to get in. He’s a good worker but unfortunately he’s not a speaker. I’m longing to know the result of this election.

Now Roselle is just back. I told her I had waited for her to be back before covering Joey and I thought she would be back at 7:30 . she has come back half an hour later and of course Joey was covered. She has uncovered him to speak to him. You will see how much trouble we have for Joey.

Lulu Priaulx is over here for a week. She came in to see us this afternoon, she had been in Guernsey for some time, but the people she was with are now going to Germany, so now she is out of work again. She was very happy with these people, she is going back to England. She will probably find work more easily there.

Again I will leave this till tomorrow in case there is something new to report.

Tuesday 7:15pm. Today has been very damp, no drying at all. Round Plat Douet Rd, there is flooding, the tennis courts are under water, also other places. The farmers are certainly very much delayed in their ploughing, they can’t do anything on the land.

We have been to Les Augerez this afternoon. Just as we got in there the telephone rang. Aunty asked Kay to answer and take the message. It was a message from Bon Air Nursing home telling aunt that they will be ready to xray her tomorrow afternoon at 3 o’clock and that they will need to take a second xray on Thursday at 10:30 am. Aunty is a bit disturbed about all this. Kay will take her and be with her. We hope the xray will not reveal anything serious. I don’t know how long it will be before she knows the result of the xrays.

Doreen and Nick will soon be here. Nick will fix the adapter for the TV lamp they gave me at Christmas. I am looking forward to seeing it lit, it should look very attractive. I told you it is in the shape of a ship’s wheel with a ship in the centre which will light up. It has three masts with a flag on the top of each one, two red ones and one blue.

Roselle is having her tea, she came back late. She went to the hairdresser after work. Joey is full of life, he loves us to speak to him, he climbs up and down all over his cage. He is very fond of lettuce.

Hope you are all well. Love from us all including Joey
Lovingly, Mother xxx



[1] The letter was from Margaret, not Len


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