Letters from Malaya

By Joan Frances Mills

My father was a captain in the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (R.E.M.E.) and was sent to Malaya with his young family as part of the British government's response to the armed revolt of the Malayan Communist party. An emergency was declared which lasted from 1952 until 1960. The British encouraged Merdeka (Independence) through political means whilst instigating military counter-insurgency measures against the MCP. This remains the only successful jungle campaign against Communism ever to be fought by a Western power.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse UK
• Release date: Oct 31, 2006
• ISBN: 9781467010573

Joan Frances Mills

I am the Susan/SiSi/Sam mentioned in the book

Book preview

Chapter 1

Liverpool to Singapore

Stork Hotel

Liverpool

19/4/1955

We go aboard at 10.30. A coach is coming for us and we sail at 5pm. Guy and Susan had a good night and an enormous breakfast! The helpings are huge here! Did they come to do the lawn? Doitch, Peggy and Pop saw us for a few minutes at Bristol and Doitch sent her love to you. Guy is busy climbing on and off an armchair so I am having to watch him.

Love Joan

HMT Empire Clyde

Off Tangier

Sunday

Dear Mummy & Daddy

Many help for all your help at the station and for getting my handbag aboard - wasn’t it a rush? Peter’s mac hasn’t turned up, so would you please confirm from RTO Lime Street that it has been forwarded by surface mail to Singapore, Daddy. Peter has been in touch with everyone he can this end but to no avail.

Well, all things considered we had quite a good journey to Liverpool - no sickness and Sisi was very good and Guy too until the last hour and a half when he was a bit of a handful - among other things soaking my skirt! He only had about half an hour’s sleep - just wouldn’t let himself go off. He spotted a man with whitish hair walking along the platform at Cheltenham and said Ah Gabbar.

There was an army utility car waiting to take us and the luggage to the hotel, two minutes away. We were very pleased with the hotel - 2 double beds and a cot in which Guy settled well and slept all night soundly. Peter and I had a jolly good dinner - huge helpings - evidently the North Country appetites are better than the Southerners! We were told that a coach would be calling for us at 10.30, in fact it arrived at 11.15 but in view of the interminable wait at the docks whilst our papers were examined, it was perhaps as well that it was late. It was nearly two before we were able to go on board and have lunch. Guy was getting frantic so he had several biscuits and then I found a tin of Heinz Apple, Prune and Custard in my handbag, so I borrowed a tin opener from a nearby Major’s wife with a baby, and he had that! Then on board he polished off mince & veg! Fortunately we are all in one cabin - many families are split up. It’s on the starboard side with 2 portholes and a nice wardrobe, chest of drawers and wash basin, besides the bunks of course. Sisi chose to go aloft and gets up and down on her own quite well now. She has settled down very well, found several friends and is no trouble. Yesterday they started school, though I gather the standard is a bit low so far for Susan. However, it may improve. This morning she’s been to Sunday school and then a children’s film show and I went to morning service. Last night there was a dance but we didn’t go as I’d had my injections and felt rather tired. Tonight is a film show for us so I hope Guy behaves. He was very good at night at first but not so good now. However, the stewardess was very good shushing him the other night when we were all at dinner. I bath Guy in the sink in fresh water - we have salt water baths with a fresh water sponge down - the bath stewardess runs them off for us. The food is very good on board & Susan is eating very well, also Guy. The latter is awfully clinging to Mummy though and it’s difficult to do all the jobs. He keeps on the trot & of course we can’t let him out of our sight. Peter has had a day’s duty as orderly officer and now has a training job to do, so he’s not available a lot unfortunately. However it rained yesterday for the first time (the weather up to then had been perfect) so I put Guy in the nursery and he thoroughly enjoyed himself, sliding down the baby chute and chalking on the blackboard wall.

Well I really think we have been lucky on this ship. I can even hang a line up for the nappies although there is a drying and ironing room. I think I ought to have had a few more evening frocks but never mind.

Lots of love from us. Joan

HMT Empire Clyde

25th April 1955

Dear Nana and Grandpa

Mummy, Daddy, Guy and me sleep in cabin number 33. I sleep on the top bunk and Mummy and Guy sleep on the bottom bunk. I have a little friend called Caroline she has got a brother called peter they sleep in cabin 25. I did not see the rock of Gibraltar but we all hope to see it when we come back in three years time. I can do hopping and backward skip now, for breakfast I usually have bacon and egg. I am going to wear my summer nightie tonight. I wore my shorts today. We get to Cyprus on Thursday morning. I have begun school now. We passed Tunisia today, Caroline and me sit together at tea-time. I bought a colouring book and crayons today. Mummy bought Guy a truck yesterday. Guy has a cold. We are doing reading and sums at school, our teacher’s name is Mrs Smith.

With much love from Susan and Guy

HMT Empire Clyde

Friday

Dear Mummy & Daddy

Well it seems as though we have been aboard ages now, yet it is only just over a week. Last night we anchored off Famagusta to land passengers for Cyprus and take on some NZ Air Force folk for the F.East. It was very hot yesterday and last night but today there is not so much sun and a strong wind, so we are wearing cardigans again. What we could see of Cyprus looked rather barren but apparently the best part is inland in the hilly area.

The day before was decidedly rough. Even the crew said it was unusual so far up the Med. I felt very peculiar in the afternoon and Susan came out of school feeling sick so we both had some of Dr Norman’s Dramamine and Susan was OK in about 10 minutes and me soon after - so much so that I ate roast pork and ice cream at dinner with no ill effects.

Last night we had a cinema show For Better, for Worse with Dirk Bogarde and Athene Seyler amongst others – quite good. Guy was good so I saw it undisturbed. During the previous show there was a call in the middle Will Mrs Mills please go to her cabin immediately, so that was that. Tonight there is a dance so I hope he’s good again.

Touch wood, Guy’s cold has practically gone and he now feels himself! His appetite isn’t nearly as good as it was at Broadstone, but most of the little ones seem to have lost their appetites. There has been an awful lot of tummy troubles and sickness among the children too.

Have you been down to the Pavilion again and have you got your summer frock, Mummy? Some of the folk on board have done a lot of sunbathing and are quite brown but it hasn’t been warm enough for me to strip yet except yesterday when I wore a cotton frock for the first time. We reach Port Said early tomorrow morning so we shall go through the canal in the daytime and be able to see the sights (?). We’ve started to give the children salt in their drinks to prevent heat exhaustion, but I hope it won’t be too terrible in the Red Sea. How’s the garden going?

Lots of love Joan

HMT Empire Clyde

Red Sea

Dear Mummy & Daddy

Many thanks for your very welcome letter we got at Port Said. So glad you are OK and the lawn is down at last - shall look forward to seeing it in 3 years time!

We docked at Port Said early in the morning opposite the Sicony Vacuum tanks where the ship took on oil. That was all we saw of PS as there was no shore leave, but it was nice to see some trees again even if only a few dusty looking ones! Before breakfast the natives came on board with their wares but we didn’t buy much - just a necklace for Susan for 2/6d and ditto for me as I wanted a black one. We then washed them well. Later that morning flower sellers came and Peter bought me some lovely roses and carnations (Guy loved smelling them) but they soon died in the heat. The Gulli Gulli (spelling!) man gave a show on deck - he really was a wonderful magician - Sisi loved it and Guy chuckled out loud when he did his tricks with baby chickens. That was our first real taste of the heat to come! It was very interesting that afternoon and evening sailing along the Suez canal - miles & miles of flat desert on one side and on the other, the road to Suez and then what looked like a kind of hedge of bamboo by the side of the Sweet Water canal (very narrow), and then more desert or bare land except for an occasional village. Every time a car or lorry went along the road, all the occupants waved and hooted madly - Guy saw lots of lors and 2 trains!

I caught the sickness bug that night and felt awful but was better during the next day. Then Peter got it the next night and Sisi the next. She’s just got over it and the M.O. says she can go back to school this afternoon but must stay on a light diet ‘til tomorrow. Half the ship have gone down with it, some very badly indeed and are in the hospital. I do hope Guy escapes. It’s indescribably hot at the moment in the cabins even with the 2 portholes and the ventilation system. We don’t like to have the door open in the night because of the draught when we’re so hot. We’re all oozing quarts - fortunately Guy & Susan will take their salt and plenty of fruit drinks. In fact, that’s about all Guy is living on at the moment apart from cheese biscuits, rolls & ordinary biscuits occasionally. They have had a chicken consomme (like clear chicken broth) for lunch these last 2 days and he’s had some of that, so that’s some nourishment. Apparently all the young children are the same. There’s loads of ice cream but I don’t let Guy have too much of that. However, he seems all right, touch wood. Let’s hope his appetite will go back to normal when he gets used to the heat. I think that tonight I shall let him sleep in just his vest and pants as there are signs of heat rash on his back after last night. I’ve stopped nappies altogether except for his sleep & at night, as it’s much cooler for him. Of course, there have been several puddles on deck but he’s not the only one being trained(?) and we’re lucky sometimes!

We reach Aden tomorrow night and have shore leave for 6 hours. We haven’t decided whether it will be cooler to land or not! Guy has gone through his shoes so I’d like to get him some more.

Love Joan

HMT Empire Clyde

Near Aden

Wednesday 4th May

Dear Mummy and Daddy

Many thanks for Susan’s letter which she got yesterday - you can guess how thrilled she was to get one all to herself. It made her feel quite homesick I think, to hear about her seeds but she was very pleased to hear that they were coming up. How are Jenny’s & Johnny’s faring?

I think Guy is really enjoying himself on board. He has a little girl friend the same age as himself and they play together and with each other’s toys quite well, & there are lots of older children around too which he loves. It’s pretty awful in the cabin these nights for them to sleep - they’re both in a bath of sweat, with the pillows soaked, but it can’t be helped and apparently as long as you take salt, it’s a good thing to perspire. It certainly runs off all of us.

We reach Aden at midnight tonight so what it will be like when we’re stationary, I don’t like to think. Peter is currency officer this afternoon. We are going ashore probably - they give us 3 hours - unless the heat is too unbearable. I would like to get a sundress for Susan. I finished the bolero of the one we started but I can’t manage the dress with so many interruptions - shall have another go when we get to Singapore.

There’s land very much in the distance, to be seen on both sides of us now. This morning we passed quite close to an island, just volcanic hills and reddish grey in colour, with scrub on the lower reaches but not a soul in sight.

Guy is still eating very, very, little and the heat has affected Susan’s appetite a bit, as up to now she has been tucking in well, having cornflakes, cold meat & salad, and mince/fish and then ice cream for her tea! The meals are really very good indeed - 6 course dinner every night and a good lunch & breakfast. However, I have decided to stick to toast for breakfast now it’s so hot , & iced coffee. I haven’t got much tan yet as I haven’t been sitting in the sun - lots of folk are in agony because of too much sun! Have met some quite nice folk on board and some just the opposite!

Lots of love to you both and Aunties. Guy often says Nana and Gabbar. Joan

HMT Empire Clyde

3 days off Colombo

Sunday

Dear Mummy & Daddy

Very many thanks for your letter with all the news - so sorry to hear about Auntie Hilda & Uncle Herbert. Is A. Hilda still getting those dizzy attacks? Was so sorry to hear about Queenie & poor Mr Wiggall too - looks as though the poor old man’s mind is going a bit, with age - & with all he’s had to put up with, with Mae. Joyce certainly wants to get away from it all. I should imagine it’s a pretty hard life.

Well, we went ashore at Aden at 8.30am and oh, was it hot! I’ve never known such scorching sun. We took the pushchair for Guy & I think he quite enjoyed a ride in it. We only had a short time ashore, about an hour so we didn’t go up to the Officers’ Club for a swim, although that would have been very enjoyable but it was 5 miles away & I wanted Guy’s shoes. We got 2 pairs - a pair of red Dolcis ones and a Bata Indian pair which have just a couple of straps across & a sole, but they’re a bit big yet. Only 8/- though & they will be lovely and cool. Aden is a long narrow town just lying at the foot of the mountains behind and with the harbour in front. We saw camels pulling water carts, women veiled and incredibly ragged natives. Most of the cars are American but we did see a Jaguar, 2 Austin A40s and a Lancia! There are queer little shops, up steep stone steps, with the goods seemingly higgledy piggledy and the most atrocious scarves & dresses outside some. Squatting on most of the steps are natives with their own supply of junk (fans, jewellery & men’s clothes etc). The folk in the shops seem mostly Eurasians. I got a tin of Farex in the chemists (2/9 instead of 1/- in England). Incidentally, all chocolates are in tins in the shop on board - I got a lipstick for 5/6 instead of 8/6 at home - no purchase tax. Funnily enough, I got Susan a sundress in Aden and it was exactly the same as one I’d seen in Bobby’s in Bournemouth - blue with white anchors on for 32/-. I have a feeling that it was more in Bobby’s. The roads and paths were very badly surfaced & very dry and dusty. Looking up the side alleys, you could see the native huts; squalid little wooden affairs, often with a man lying on a sort of camp bed outside whilst the woman did the work, I suppose. There were some lovely smelling and very pretty flowering trees in the little water side garden - they’d be nice at 17 West Way! After going to the end of the street and back, we were very glad to get on a launch & return to the ship and comparative coolness - it was a real relief when we left Aden & could get a bit of breeze again, even though it was a hot one!

It’s certainly very trying in this heat, especially with Guy clinging so and keeping on the trot so much. He wakes about 5.30 am - 6 am, asking for a drink (having had several during the night) and there’s not much peace until I get him up & wash him. It’s rather a long time till breakfast (8.30) & sometimes he has a good one & other times practically nothing. Unfortunately they don’t seem capable of lightly boiling an egg very often, although he does like scrambled egg. After breakfast, there’s a rush for a deck chair as we’re not allowed in our cabins from 9 - 11.15 whilst the ship’s inspection is taking place. Guy just about lasts out till then when he has his sleep, & as soon as he’s off, I do my washing & ironing & have a short rest. Lunch is at 1.15 & from 2-4 is the ship’s quiet period. Guy of course, is full of energy then & keeps us busy! He seems to want to explore a lot more than other infants his age. Children’s tea is at 5 (sometimes he just has bread & butter, today he had chicken soup, minced fillet steak & a piece of bread, butter & jam!) He won’t drink the milk at all but has lots of fruit juice. I bath Susan just before tea, & Guy after & get him off to sleep by 7.15 if possible, our dinner time. Poor kids, they’re so sticky hot all the time as we all are. They’ve rigged a cinema screen between masts so we get a film show out of doors some evenings - it’s beautiful then, just a warm breeze.

Must stop. Lots of love Joan

PS. We’ve just seen some flying fish but I missed seeing the shark. The sea is just like blue glass today

HMT Empire Clyde

Wednesday May 11th

Dear Mummy & Daddy

Very many thanks for selling the pram & carry cot for us, & for getting such a good price for them - hope you are equally lucky with the cot & high chair - certainly wish I had them here. They have high chairs which fit on the back of ordinary chairs & of course if Guy feels like standing up in them, that’s that. I have to lift him out as the thing would easily topple over. I’m rather scared of leaving him in his bunk too, & never leave before he is asleep. Peter stays with him (or I do if he can’t) while he has his morning sleep & I do the chores & we just hope the stewardess will arrive quickly if he falls out whilst we’re at dinner! She’s not much good at shushing him off again if he does wake up but that’s not surprising with Guy.

About the money - the P.O.S.B. seems the best place, though Peter says will you use what is necessary out of it to pay the Broadstone garage charges for storing the Lancia, & he will settle up with me here?

We reach Colombo about 10.30 this morning. Ran into the monsoon weather yesterday, storms on & off all day & the ship is rolling quite a bit still. There’s an epidemic of German measles on board - some of the children with it are on a roped off bit of the deck, but of course half the time, they’re out of it & the others in, so I expect they’ll all have it soon. It seems very mild luckily. Guy has had diarrhoea last night & this morning, so I’m taking him down to the M.I. room this morning. Practically every child seems to have it & lots of adults too. I shan’t be sorry when this voyage is over, as most of the mothers are saying.

Glad Peggy had such a nice cabin and hope she liked her companions. We have 2 wardrobes, a chest of drawers & wash basin. Expect Mrs Robinson feels a bit low. Have Aunties been over to pay you a visit yet? Do hope you’ve been getting out & about. Got your frocks yet? I ought to have had lots more - I don’t know how many frocks some of the folk here have brought.

Lots of love Joan

Waverley Guest House

425 Pasir Panjang Rd

Singapore

Thursday May 19th

Dear Mummy & Daddy

Very many thanks for your 2 air letters - one reached us on Monday when we docked here & the other this morning. Also had one from Auntie Emmie. Sisi’s birthday cards have also come - many thanks for them & also for the present - sorry I didn’t mention it before. We will get her something from you when next we go into Singapore proper (this is just a village by the sea - glorious view from the hotel which stands high up & overlooks a beautiful bay. There’s plenty of green vegetation too, flowering shrubs like exotic, fleshy rhododendrons and all sorts of others. Some are English like gladioli, begonias, chrysanths etc. and they have lots of plants in pots - like the current craze in England, some flowering & some just green,

To go back to Sisi, we are getting her a bike when we have somewhere on our own, as there is nowhere for her to ride it here - the road outside is too dangerous & anyway, there are 50 steps to climb up to get to the hotel! She wants some more sandals (red ones are nearly done for) & a book from you, thank you very much so we’ll get them all being well. She is hoping to start at the army school on Monday. They are fetched at 7.30 am and brought back at 1 pm by army transport - no afternoon school but a bit of homework. Apparently, she’ll have to have a uniform (green cotton frocks). So sorry you weren’t able to get a frock Mummy. What about the shantung suit you thought of? Have you worn your coat yet or hasn’t it been warm enough? We’ll send a bit of this heat to you!

Well, Sisi caught German measles (practically every child caught it, some much worse than others), the morning we reached Colombo so she couldn’t go ashore. I stayed with her & Guy while Peter went to get me some more rose hip syrup, & I think it was probably best for Guy not to trail about those burning streets. Sisi, apart from a slight rash, was as fit as a fiddle. No temperature, swollen glands or anything, so she had her meals in the cabin for a few days and then, as it was the day of the children’s fancy dress parade & party (Friday), they declared all children out of quarantine so all was well! Susan wore her nurse’s outfit & we dressed Guy up as the Gulli Gulli man, which he loved at first but they were so long getting on with the parade that when the time came to walk in procession, he just sat down, pulled his "fez`’ off & refused to budge! So he was out of it! They had a lovely tea with balloons, hats & whistles etc. Guy refused turkey & stuck to bread & butter & jam & cake! He didn’t drink any milk on board but here I get a pint of fresh pasteurised milk for him & he loves it. Susan’s tummy has been a bit funny since Sunday so I’m leaving out her milk for a bit. She gets it at school apparently. I had diarrhoea & sickness all Friday night & felt awful on Saturday so starved myself. I was so cross as the ship’s farewell dinner & dance were that night & they had a terrific meal & a wonderful time - however, I just had some soup & went to bed. Felt much better next day though.

We left the boat at 9.30 am & were met by a R.E.M.E. major in his new Hillman & he took us here. It is nice to have a large bedroom again. We have 2 rooms & are on the corner with the 2 outer walls open except for cream painted wrought iron (no glass) & right at the top, fixed slats. The single beds are 4’ wide (Guy sleeps any way up or round on his!) The food takes a bit of getting used to - can’t say I like the underlying flavour much. The cot & high chair would probably be useful if the cost isn’t prohibitive - thanks for trying to sell them.

We went to a swimming pool with some nice RAF folk here yesterday afternoon - Guy & Sisi loved it. Most folk go every afternoon. We shall probably hire a car at weekends till ours comes as you just must have one. Taxis are so expensive. Have you fixed your holiday yet?

Lots of love Joan

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View from the bedrooms at the Waverley

Waverley Guest House

425 Pasir Panjang Rd

Singapore

23rd May 1955

Dear Mummy & Daddy

We have now found we can send ordinary letters by Forces airmail for 10 cents (roughly 2d) so that will be much better than air letters - can you do it your way too i.e. from England to here?

It’s one of the Malay national holidays today (the beginning or end, I’m not sure which, of a fasting period) and so as there are a lot of Malays at Peter’s workshop, he has the day off. The schools are shut too, though Susan hasn’t started yet - we’ve sent off the forms & her medical certificate to say she’s F.F.I. so I hope she will start soon. There’s another 8 year old boy, Christopher, staying here so she’ll be able to go on the ‘school bus’ with him. They’re great pals already. He has a little brother of 2 & a bit & Guy tries to copy him, climbing up things etc.! The father is a Squadron Leader & we like him & his wife very much - we’re playing canasta with them tonight.

This morning we hired a taxi & went into the centre of Singapore to the big shops to get SiSi’s present from you. She’s chosen a book by Enid Blyton The Mystery of something or other (she & Christopher are deep in it at the moment, the rest period after lunch). I also got her some more sandals from you - thank you very much. That fancy red pair are very much the worse for wear, so I’ve got an ordinary, normal sandal in red for her this time, like the white ones. I think they will be more practical.

Singapore has 3 big department stores & several large Indian shops, apart from the smaller ones of course. We went through them but didn’t get anything else except a rubber ring for Susan when she goes to the swimming pool, which incidentally she loves & tries hard to get the movements right. Peter holds her under her chin but she hasn’t quite got the hang of it yet. Apparently, up to a month ago, Christopher just hung on to the side screaming & now he paddles along in the deep end & goes off the springboard & down the chute, so I’m hoping he will be a good influence on Susan. Guy loved it the first time but refused to go in with Peter when we went yesterday afternoon, so he’ll have to wait until I can go in again. He is just getting used to a proper bath again. On the Empire Clyde I had to bath him in a sink we used to do the washing in, as you could only have sea water baths in the proper baths, with just a sponge down with fresh water. All the young children were bathed in the sink. Guy objected strongly unless he had an audience, so I used to borrow Jennie, a 5 year old N.Z. child, every evening to come & watch him - she loved it & Guy was as good as gold then! We had his hair cut by the barber on board but he screamed so the barber couldn’t make a very good job of it. We had it done again this morning in the ladies hairdressing dept.of a big shop, as I thought he might be better with a woman doing it - but no, not a bit of it. However with 2 of us holding him down, the little Chinese girl hasn’t made a bad job at all & he looks a real little boy now - it’s much cooler for him too.

It is very hot here but not so bad as on board ship. The rooms are big & airy with big electric fans in the ceiling & the nights are not so stifling. We only have a thin flannelette sheet over us & often don’t want that ‘til 3-4 am. I’ve put Guy back in his cotton sleeping suits (he wore only his Aertex vest & pants on board) but I’ve cut the sleeves off. I wish I hadn’t bought vests now - none of us wear them except Peter & I’ve left my corset off since the Red Sea but I’ll have to try & wear it again or I’ll have such a tummy. Lots of people got fatter on board but I think I stayed the same. We’re not getting nearly as much to eat here as on the ship, but perhaps that’s as well. I’m getting used to the food a bit better now. Guy still doesn’t get much green veg. or Susan, though she eats lots of salad, but I hope he’ll be all right with fruit & his rose hip syrup.

We were so sorry to hear the Neilsons are going - especially Susan - I thought they were settled there. Do hope you’ll get some nice new neighbours - some younger ones again. Susan has written to Tishy as well as Jenny.

Do hope A Hilda is feeling better. Has she been to the doctor? Have you fixed your holiday yet & are you going with them, or are they going with Mrs Robinson? I expect she feels a bit lonely. I hope Peggy’s train ride wasn’t too bad - were the trains air conditioned? They are here for the long runs up country.

Incidentally we’ve heard from the Squadron Leader that you can get indulgence passages for leave by air, as well as by sea, so if we save up a fortnight’s leave we thought we’d like to have a look at Japan whilst we’re out here. Shall we look old Shira up? What’s his address? The passages are very cheap indeed like the cost of ours on the E Clyde. Of course it won’t be for some months yet.

Our overseas allowance pays for our expenses in this hotel, though of course if we move to a private bungalow our expenses will be quite a bit more. Apparently we shan’t get a quarter for at least 8 months. Sqn. Ldr Holmes & family move to one in mid July, so if we’re still here then I expect we shall move downstairs to their rooms, which are much nicer as you have your own verandah for sitting out on & don’t have to stay in the bedroom or in the lounge when it’s too hot to be right outside. We have a marvellous view of the bay from our windows. We’re on the east side of the island. There’s a nice little beach about 100 yds down the road from here where I’ve taken the children. The water is rather muddy looking but apparently it’s all right. The sand is washed every tide anyway & there are quite a lot of shells. One day we want to go over to one of the smaller islands where the beaches are lovely & full of shells but of course you have to go for the whole day. The west side, Changi, of Singapore island has the best beaches but that’s 25 miles from here. The RAF have that side. It would have been nice to live over there but 40 Base Workshops are here & as Peter has to be there sometimes by 7. 30 am & stay ‘till 5pm, he doesn’t want a 50 mile journey each day through the centre of the city, because my, these native drivers, especially the Sikhs! There are loads of one way streets so it will take a little time to get used to things. However, I want to drive again so could you please see if you could find my driving licence in my old reptile skin handbag, please? I thought I had it with me but I can’t find it. If you can’t find it, I’ll write to the Surrey taxation people for a duplicate, as I don’t want to have to take another test here.

It’s an awful job keeping woollen clothes in good condition out here, so I think I shall have to be ruthless as far as Guy’s woolly jerseys, vests etc. are concerned. One just hasn’t the room in an hotel to hang everything outside all the time.

I bought a 54" square tablecloth & 6 naps from one of the travelling merchants who come round (the other wives recommended him) for 18/-. It’s that sort of large, all over broderie anglais in ecru colour on natural cotton. Must try & get a linen one before we come home. Would you like anything in that line? We can send them cheaply without customs duty etc! There are some lovely things out here so later on I must get some to bring home. But we must find our way around first.

At the moment Peter gets the equivalent of £2000 a year, but then all the English things you