FLAT 10.

49 LOWNDES SQUARE.

S.W. 1.

11th February 1945

Dear Viola,

Very many thanks indeed for your letter
of December 29th which reached us a few days ago.
I think there is no point now in sending letters
airmail for they seem to take just the same time
as ordinary letters do.

What a dreadful party that must have
been on Christmas Day ! It is rather what
happens here though now for all sorts get mixed
up in various Defence work or factories ...I know
sometimes when they start talking factory slang
I cant understand a word of what is going on.

We have a new great excitement. Once
a week the big store in this neighbourhood sells
ice cream blocks. It has been illegal for three
years, now they are allowing it again, but the
ingredients are pretty poor, the skim of skimmed
milk and synthetic stuff. Still it is such a
change to our monotonous food. So huge queues
form almost an hour before hand and we wait patient
ly. One block a household, about two thirds the
size of this paper. I never used to eat ice
cream as pre the war I ate very little sugar but
now I wait the same as the rest.

Mercifully the weather turned a bit

warmer though to-day we had a thunderstorm and then
a snowstorm, all upside down like the world. I
had some lovely flannel sheets when I lived in
Switzerland as I had a big window that was a door
in my bedroom, out on to the terrace. One has
not been able to get them here in wartime but
mercifully this block has been kept fairly warm.
Lots of people have had no heat at all, as the
gas was a mere point, the electricity was cut and
the coal one is allowed to have barely keeps one
fire going if one has a house.

Very many thanks for the magazines that
arrived yesterday, we read them and then pass them
on to some Americans we know here, and we are all
very grateful. It is still pretty cold but I
am just going to have tea with Perdita as it is
her afternoon off duty.

Hope your son will soon turn up again
on leave. And that all goes well with you,

Love and greetings,

49 Lowndes Square, London S.W.1.

25th March 1945

W. Macpherson, English.

Dear Viola,

I don't know how to find words to thank you - you are
too kind to us. I feel you ought not to send us your used
clothes because they may get very short even in the States. We
dare not give a rag away here but you never saw how smart Hilda
looks in your coat. I tell her she must not wear it until
Easter. And how kind of you to send the gloves, the candy and
the jam. But we talk and talk saying you ought not to do it,
with all your family and the many, many friends I know you must
have. If you are so kind to complete strangers as I am,
you must have all your own town hovering round you like butterflies

Your letter of Feb 1 and a parcel reached us a few
days ago, the other one yesterday. We have been in a frantic
state for about three weeks. Perdita was asked if she would
volunteer for foreign service, she said yes with much excitement
and for a while nothing happened, then one evening she rang up
and said she had to leave in 48 hours, in that time she had to
get all her permits and to be kitted up, oh her kit! We have
not seen anything like it for over five years and we worked out
if she had had to give coupons it would have taken three and a
half years to get it. The most wonderful woolly underwear,
then summer underwear and shirts, leather shoes, absolutely
marvellous in quality and then came the great moment when she
put her U.S. badges on. She looked wonderful, we thought, in
her uniform. They told her she could take some civilian clothes
for any parties there might be evenings but she said she could
never get anything like her uniform, so she only took a couple
of thin summer things in case she was in a heat wave sometime.
After she had gone, there were six applicants for her share of
the flat where she was with another girl, and so we had to take
all her things away, and get them all washed and cleaned so as to
pack and store them. We dare not give a rag away, and she'll
need them when she comes home. I expect it will be a long
while though till then. She will now be much better fed and
looked after than for five years past, but all the same it feels
dreadful having her disappear into the wilds known officially as
" north west Europe." She had an imposing document saying if
captured she ranked as second lieutenant. It is fun, I
think, that she is back with the U.S. I always hoped she would
settle there.

So you hate fur coats too, I see from your letter. I hate them, they are so heavy and cumbersome. I'd rather have a wind jacket any day. Did I tell you that at the beginning of the war, when it was still quite legal, I bought a sack of camel combings from the Zoo and had them spun for me and woven into a wind jacket and skirt? They are awfully warm and made a lovely soft natural color, but they are a bit rough.

W. Macpherson, English,
49 Lowndes Square, London S.W.1.

18th April 1945

Dear Viola,

Parcels, letters and your delightful Easter card showered upon us - one of the parcels was obviously the Christmas one with delicious and wonderful pop corn and those lovely gay gloves. Thank you so much - I wish there were more words for thank you. You have no idea how much joy you give, because it is not just ourselves but when friends come in, either they have never seen popcorn or they love it and felt it was a thing they'd never see again and either way, they enjoy it thoroughly.

We were all worked up at the weekend that we were near V day and barrows were rushed on to the streets full of flags. Now we are told it is weeks off - maybe due to the president's death. People here were all very upset about this and there were photographs everywhere wreathed in American flags and the populace reacted just as if it had been our royalty. They made no distinction which was interesting.

Perdita is having a great time abroad. She says her main problem is convincing home-sick G.I.'s that her " state " is London. I do wish you could have seen her in her American uniform, we think she looked wonderful in it. You must excuse our pride. I do hope your son got back for his leave. It must be a very difficult job being instructor. I have heard some here say it is much worse than going out on operational flights.

I don't know Treece myself, he has never happened to come into the office when I was there, but my colleagues know him of course. He has been in the air force, I think, since the war began. I say I think because almost all our contributors are in the Services and one gets muddled as to whether it is air force or navy.

I saw about a hundred people formed up down the street near here and so I asked what the queue was for. Summer shoes they said and apparently they were there for hours. I always ask if I see a queue, somebody may have something good in the eating line and then I line up too.

Perdita says she is getting better food than for five years, she eats in the officers' mess and all she wants is " news from home and some novels that are not about the war. " We write her almost every day and I got her the books this morning. It is fun being able to send her parcels, we couldn't of course if she were not in the forces. We may not send her any food, but we can send books, magazines or little oddments.

Thank you again ever so much for your great kindness,

W. Macpherson, English,

29th May 1945

Dear Viola,

What a dreadful shock it must have been for you to have
your daughter marry suddenly just like that. But she looks very
lovely in the clipping from the newspaper that you sent to us. I hope
that she will be very happy. Of course never having met her hus-
band one cant know but I had some very dear Czech friends. They
invited me to stay with them in Prague one summer. I think it was
one of the most beautiful cities I have ever seen. I loved my time
with them but they foresaw the war, and as they had babies, they
applied for an American visa and got across your side, some time before
the war. It was pretty hard as they had to give up a lot of money and
house etc, but they write me all the time they were so thankful to have
made the decision they did. Now their children are in American
schools and they are getting along well. But it is shock at the
best of times - and I do feel so sorry that it wasn't just what you had
hoped.

No, Perdita was sent to what is known officially as
north west Europe. But she might get sent anywhere where there
is the American army. She would love it if she were sent to the
States but at present, I think, she will remain in Europe. We had a
terrific surprise last week, in she walked ! She was not due for
leave for months but they all got a special V day leave. It was so
strange, the first day, she was in uniform and she got salutes all the
time we were out. But on leave she could change and lost no time in
making me get her trunk from the box room, and getting back into civilian
clothes. She was full of all kinds of interesting stories and
tales. She had even seen a friend of mine, an American woman who has
lived all her life in France and it was great fun getting first hand news
at last. My friend had resisted the Nazis in every way possible but had
a dreadful time, being a year in prison for this. Now she is free of
course, ever since the liberation last summer. Yes, I meant that
I thought it was fun that Perdita had joined up with the U.S. side
rather than the British, though officially she has been "lent" only.

The food cuts here are catastrophic for the workers. So
much depends upon whether you can afford to go out for lunch or not.
We do, and this is a great help. We lunch round the corner at a nice
place run by a woman who is an excellent cook. But she can only
feed a few of us, we go regularly and then we can get a seat. One
cant just drift in casually.

Whilst Perdita was over we went to try and see the German
submarine that is on exhibition. We went awfully early but already there
was a queue a quarter of a mile long and they said we should have to wait
four hours, so we came away. I wasn't keen enough to wait that long.
I suppose now there will nothing talked about here but the election. I
think it is a good thing though, because it will be easier for the Govern-
ment to make decisions once it is over.

All my love,

no good at cooking but I'll try to persuade Hilda to try out your
receipt.

49 Lowndes Square
London S.W.1.

Much love, I'll write from Cornwall,

24th June 1945

Dear Viola,

Well, here I am with two letters to answer, Yours of May
26th and yours of June 6th. Both arrived within a post or two of
each other.

I think we all have our troubles with the young. When
Perdita went off to the wars, she sublet her flat on the understanding
that she could store her things in one room and have it on her leave,
and for this she paid a small sum weekly. Well, she had her leave and
went off thinking she was settled there in case she had more leave, till
October. The day afterwards her girl friend who had taken flats, ups and
says she is being sent away and everything has to be cleared by July 1st
as others have taken the apartment. Well, we grumbled because why
couldn't she have told Perdita before the girl left? Anyhow we have
been running around like mad for two weeks, we couldn't get storage, we
couldn't get a truck to move the things. And we daren't give away
even a torn dish rag because you can't ever get the things again ! At
last an awfully kind friend came to our rescue. He got a couple of
men and a taxi and we moved all the things to the basement here ! Now
we spend spare moments packing them up. When they are packed up, I can
get storage, if I go up with them in a taxi. Absolutely impossible to
get a van for weeks to come. I suppose the girl could not help
it but we cant help feeling we'd have planned better. Of course Perdita
was not to blame as she thought she had fixed everything up to move during
her next leave and she'd actually paid so as to make this possible.

I enclose a clipping ( throw away when you've read it) about
the situation here. I never stood so long in so many queues for so
little, to paraphrase a famous line ! But we cant grumble now too
much for ourselves, as I am off this week to c/o Mrs Long, Trenoweth,
St Keverne, Cornwall, where I was last year and being a farm, I'll get
wonderfully fed. And Hilda has luckily got in, in Warwickshire at a
good place as regards food. In the remote countryside it is usually
easier than in town. Letters sent here will be forwarded.

KUNTER Antrobus...it is an English name but I do not
know anyone of the name and I fancy it was more eighteenth century.
But it is quite impossible to judge class or type by name because some-
times in the middle ages people on farms acquired the name of the
local knight and anyway if you choose to go before a magistrate and
change your name you may do so, provided you are English born. Then
families where a century or two ago there were ten or twelve children
tended to have some fall and some rise, if you like to put it that way.
Names seldom give a clue here as to type, it does depend a bit more on
address, but again only in towns, as in the country you might be an earl
and yet live in a cottage because you liked the view.

Yes I like sweet rocket, it is very pretty among
other flowers, if it is the same here as the one you planted.

It is more than kind of you to think of us, I am

TRENOWETH,
ST. KEVERNE.
CORNWALL.

13th August 1945

Dear Viola,

I am so sorry not to have answered before your letter of July 3rd, which reached me about ten days ago. Here though it is almost impossible to get to the typewriter as I am on a farm, there is almost no help and endless jobs to be done, as a change from the rest of the year I love it.

Hilda is in Warwickshire for her holiday and seems to be very happy. I am going back to London a week from now. We are all terrifically excited over the atom bomb and the possible end of the war, news pours out of the radio but we finally got so nervous waiting around, we will only put the news on now, morning and evening.

I do wish you could see our dear donkey, Matilda, she is such fun, and comes almost into the kitchen after scraps, not that she is doing badly on her war time rations as she eats around what was once the lawn but she loves company.

Everywhere else in England they have had a heat wave but here it has been cold and dreary for the last seven weeks. We did have one fine afternoon and went to sea, fishing for mackerel, we had quite a good catch. It is the first time we have been allowed out at sea for six years. Even now they are still sweeping for mines but it didn't worry

W. Macpherson, English.

1st September 1945

Dear Viola,

I got back from Cornwall and Hilda from Warwickshire to find
a wonderful parcel waiting for us, with some of those lovely puddings
and most welcome raisins. Thank you so much - you are so extremely
kind to us and I think it has been so wonderful of you to have written
us and to have looked after us so much throughout this long and dreadful
war. Do believe me, we are grateful. And thank you too so much for
the magazines.

We have had a terrific surprise. Perdita being with your Army got demobbed on Victory day and was flown back home. All the American women are being demobbed at once which is so sensible, here they are still hanging around, often without anything to do, still in the Services for the rate of release is very slow. Further because of her experience Perdita was offered such a wonderful civilian job, because of her languages too, that though she had meant to take three months off, she accepted it and begins next week. It is with a travel agency. Actually she has never had longer than a week's leave at a time for five years except once or twice when she had sick leave and she would have liked a rest, but the possibilities were so good and the pay that she thought she ought to take it.

I am very alarmed at the situation here. I said when the election results came in that it was our biggest defeat of the war. Now people are coming round and saying I was correct. Undoubtedly if we had still had Churchill, Lease Lend would have tapered off and not had so abrupt an end. I fear we shall now have inflation which is just what I predicted election day and oddly by voting labor, the country has put social progress back at least fifteen years because they may make schemes on paper but if we have no sound economy it will be impossible to carry them out. Also, any government here is bound to crash on housing in a year or two, because the situation is so grave than nobody can solve it, and then we may have as violent a swing to the extreme and unyielding Right. But a sort of whispering campaign got about that men would be demobbed quicker under Labor ( but this is not the case ) and so the results were inevitable. All England is thinking of is when will the men and women get " out "; at the present rate we don't begin demobbing the young men who have been in six years before next December. And few except married women have as yet been released. Doesn't make sense to me.

How is your son getting along? I hope it has not been too difficult adjusting. And how is your married daughter? I suppose she will be setting up house. It is awfully hard on newly married people here, as there just isn't any household equipment. They get a priority slip entitling them to buy one pair of sheets and two blankets per household but what happens if one of them is ill! Or while you wash the sheets! The young ones haven't any reserves.

Once again all my thanks and I do hope that the Peace will bring you many happy and easy years,

3rd October 1945

( Think we are allowed
to drop the British from
the address now war is over)

Dear Viola,

How kind of you to send me a birthday card ! And such
an amusing one. They do cards in America far better than we do and
thank you so much for all your good wishes and your letter of September
15th.

To clear up the apparent mystery of Life and Letters, this
is owned and edited by Robert Herring, has been since 1935. But
in 1935 I was appointed as their foreign correspondent to deal with
book reviews or articles or reading translations of stories that
originated outside England. I never touched the English side which
was of course, most of the magazine. In 1940, on my return to
England, I took the job of a boy on the paper who had been called up
or rather had volunteered to join the R.A.F. As I was over forty
five I was allowed to retain this job, if I had been under that age
I should have been sent into a factory. All women here, whether married
or not, were sent into factories or into the forces, between eighteen
and forty five, unless they had children living with them under four-
teen. Later they raised the age to fifty but if you were in a job
you were left. Now the boy whose job I took is being demobilised and
returns to us in about three months. I shall then revert to my
original job of foreign correspondent now that things are opening up
again abroad. It suits me much better as I hope with luck to be
able to return to my home in Switzerland in the spring. The paper
is entirely owned and the property of Mr Herring, but I was put on as
assistant director during the raids so that if one of us were knocked
out, there would be someone available to sign cheques etc.

Through the war, I went to the office, doing the job of
the boy who volunteered. Mr Herring volunteered but was turned down
on medical grounds. So there's the history, all straight !

Life here is really far more difficult now than during
the war. Certainly as far as food is concerned. For the first
time, people have not always been able to obtain their rations. And
they are meagre enough. We have been lucky to date because friends
of ours have a little farm in Kent and they have sent us fresh vege-
tables weekly in a hamper. One has to post the hamper back and it
means more work but at least our stuff is fresh, in the shops it is
often days old, and you know what that is like with green stuff.
Then we joined a poultry club, it is a risk, you forfeit the right
to eggs under the ordinary ration scheme, but if your club is lucky,
you get many more eggs. To date, we have been very fortunate.
It is much more expensive of course, but if one can get four eggs a
week, well worth while.

Mr Herring's house was burgled two days ago, the
thieves left all his silver tumbled over the floor but they stole
every scrap of food in the house, a great loss to him, they stole
his ration of oranges, one pound, some ham which is irreplacable,
he is in a pig club which means he forfeits his right to bacon on

the ration so this has hit him hard, and also the thieves took his shoes.
He had the police there all day but there is not much hope of recovering
anything - he may possibly be allowed coupons to buy one new pair. All
the silver and a valuable clock etc, was left untouched. Money now
here won't buy either food or clothing. It is the coupons that are
important. Of course you have to pay, but without coupons, either for
food or textiles, you get nothing.

Yes, we hear a lot about Japanese atrocities because we had
too thousands of prisoners from Singapore and Hong Kong out there. Our
papers are full of accounts of the tortures daily. But the Germans
did much the same in the concentration camps, we hear terrible accounts
of what happened from the returned prisoners of war.

Awfully sorry that you had that hammock accident. I always feel
that there is something insecure about them, though I know they are often
all right. Do hope you are over it now. How very disappointing about
your boy going right out to Washington University. Found a friend of
mine crying yesterday and found she'd heard from her son who has been six
years in the army and three in N. Africa. He had written to say that
he could not endure an office job again and wanted to be demobbed out there
and go to S. Africa and find an outdoor job. All right for him, much
more opportunity, but hard on his mother who had the house come down on
her head in the blitz and has been working right through, waiting for him.
She has a daughter, but I expect it is the son she misses most. The
daughter will be coming home soon from the Wrens.

I hope the play is a success. Always seems to me it is the
most difficult form of writing, sure I could never cope with it.

Personally I think if one wants to write, it is a question of
experience and that no university courses are much help. I'd rather
myself do a job and then write in my spare time, one keeps more in touch
with life.

All my love and greetings and many thanks for all your good
wishes. With luck I'll be home in Switzerland by next April. I
think I could get there now but they won't give any fuel permit for the
house so I have to wait for the warm weather.

Much love,

11th December 1945

Dear Viola,

All my best wishes to you for a very happy Christmas and New Year and again all the deepest thanks that I can send to you for your unfailing kindness to us during these terrible years.

It seems so sad that your son should not be with you for this first, peace time Christmas but I hope all the same that you have a very gay and happy time.

I tried to find a small book that I thought you might like but there was nothing that seemed even readable except a little reprint of some early travellers' stories about London. I thought something in this might amuse you and at least I felt it might be less irritating than some of the modern books !

The elections have tangled things up here in the most awful manner. They are so afraid of one person getting a hint of a crumb more than another that everything is snarled up. The great idea is to crush what they call the one man business which seems ridiculous to me, for England was built up on the small independent trader. It is all just snarled as if a kitten had got at a ball of wool, and instead of getting down to reconstruction it is all a lot

Hilda has given me my share of a wonderful Christmas parcel, soap and a lovely pair of stockings. I do thank you so much for your great kindness. I thank you now just to acknowledge but I have put them away till Christmas and will be writing you then properly to tell you how delighted I am with them. You are so very kind.

I did not have a special card done this year because I did not know where I was going to be.

But I do send you all possible love and thanks and good wishes,

Bryler