Letters to America

Sunday, October 3rd, 1943

Darling Joan,

The “Sunny Stories”(1) that we are sending you this week should really have been sent off last week, but I wrote out a small envelope by mistake, and rather than waste it I thought I would keep the book over till this week.

Well, Joan, by this time you will be settled back at school again and well into the next term. I hope that you all enjoyed your summer and feel all the better for it. I know that we do, but we are very sorry Summer has gone because of the horrid black-out(2), which is very trying.

This morning John and I were up and out on Copse Farm at seven-thirty, looking for something that I lost last night in the black-out. I was out with the Home Guard(3) over the fields, and guess I dropped it somehow. I didn’t want to report it missing, hence the early morning’s outing. John enjoyed it very much because we also hunted for horse-chestnuts, which he uses to play at “conkers”. We found it all right, also many conkers, so both arrived home hungry and happy. It was very cold at first with a mist and a heavy frost in the lower fields, but it warmed up as the sun rose higher and we really did enjoy ourselves. Needless to say, Anne and Mummy were, very wisely, in bed.

They have all gone off to Sunday School(4), John and Anne and Patsy Gaze and Dora, so Mummy and I have a nice quiet afternoon.

Last evening early, I took them into the “rec”(6) and taught them to ride your two-wheeled bicycle. John was able to ride it very soon, but Anne was more nervous. I gave them some lessons last Autumn (Fall), but they seem to have lost the way of it. It will soon come back, I expect.

We haven’t been able to get our hot water tank repaired yet, and cannot get it replaced under six weeks, which means we are without any hot water other than we can heat up in our kettles and copper. It is an awful nuisance but we are lucky in that the weather keeps fine and warm, once the sun is really up. But we may get cold weather any day now, and then we shall really miss the heating.

Cheerio(5), Joan darling, and be good.

Your loving
Daddy
xxxxxxxxxxx

  1. Sunny Stories was a children's magazine published in the United Kingdom in the first half of the 20th century.
  2. Blackout regulations were imposed on 1 September 1939, before the declaration of war. These required that all windows and doors should be covered at night with suitable material such as heavy curtains, cardboard or paint, to prevent the escape of any glimmer of light that might aid enemy aircraft. External lights such as street lights were switched off, or dimmed.
  3. The Home Guard was an unpaid armed citizen militia supporting the 'Home Forces' of the British Army during the Second World War.
  4. Sunday school is a school for religious teaching usually for children and young people and usually a part of a church or parish.
  5. Rec. is short for Recreation Ground.
  6. People sometimes say 'cheerio' as a way of saying goodbye, especially in British English.