Alec to his parents:

Dear Mum and Dad

Dads letter received on Saturday morning, for which many thanks. Obviously patient doing rather well. June and I debated whether to ring up Mum on Wednesday night after receipt of letter and decided against it in view of Mums difficulty with telephone*. We were a little disgusted when Stella rang up to say she had telephoned to find out the news. I told her the circumstances and she knows how we feel about it. However the news she gave us was very encouraging and Dads letter of 16th has done much to reassure us. I am not surprised to learn that you are weak on the pins, what does surprise me is the fact that you are allowed to use them. It certainly seems to have been a long and considerable operation but I am sure that the feeling of relief that it is over will help you to put up with the minor irritations that you may be experiencing now. Glad to hear that you have good food and plenty of it, June is quite envious as Hillingdon compares most unfavourably. By the way where is St Mary’s? Can’t say I have heard of that one before. In response to your express wish not to tell anyone (letter to Geoff) I have avoided making my enquiries through Bristol Office and have told no one this end. I thought Peter Morris might have liked to know, but have so far not said anything. It remains to be seen whether someone else can also keep quiet. Will await your further comments on this point, as said before we all have got rid of colds except the snuffles and nights are much better now but we still have Carol in with us. The next crisis will take place when we try to put her elsewhere. Carol is getting to be quite a little Madam now. She can collect the paper and letters and in fact picked up Dads letter on Saturday morn. At the moment she is shouting something to me through the French Windows. Christine and Susan are playing on the swing. The gale in the night was very severe. We had to get up at three to close window. Not a lot of damage in garden as not much left to spoil. The Chrysants, which were staked, are all right but the last remnants of the Dahlias have blown over. The grass and weeds now starting to grow again but it will be a while before some of the bare patches are grown over. I expect that you heard the wind and rain as it was supposed to be very severe in the west. At the moment the sun is shining and there is plenty of blue sky and white cloud. It is a little cooler but the air feels fresh and bracing. Susan looking forward to going to Sunday School this afternoon, has been asking all the week if it was Sunday. I hope workmen have at last finished your kitchen. Workman this end still has a number of jobs to do, put in a concrete Window Sill over cavity brick wall ( window was formerly inside pantry). Having no sand, I made a neat solution of cement and water and laid it in position. The cavity I covered with a piece of Lino cut to size. Unfortunately as the cement dried it cracked clean across in one place and although I kept patching this crack and keeping the surface dampened it would persist in appearing it the same place. The two portions have now set hard and form a reasonable window sill but the crack rather spoils it. I think that perhaps a drying draught may have come upwards through the cavity wall and dried out that particular spot before the rest. Carol now arrived on the scene and wants to do some typing. She is hanging on to my left arm so dont be surprised at results. Have rubbed down the plaster we put in last week end and filled in some obvious holes with polyfiller. This will require some more sanding then should be ready to apply primer and paint next week end . This will lave to be done before the gas stove can be moved. When that has been moved I can then start on the other corner. Did I tell you that the site on the corner of Queens Walk and Whitby Road has been acquired for St Andrews Lutheran Church**. This is to be built within the next year. Seems as though they move faster than the other people. French Marigolds still in full flower. They really are a good buy. Of course when kitchen came down that meant a lot more junk to be found room for in shed. Have got a lot of good wood out of the deal but it has meant that shed had to have another spring clean to accommodate it. The whole of the door frame and door is there intact. Are you in a Private Room or in a ward? Is there radio or T.V. available? The Hospitals are going more and more for Work Study, if you see any evidence you might let me know. One of our former staff has transferred to that side of things. Had anything on the Pools this year yet. Have you had any luck or have you not bothered either? Well that is all for now other than to hope that you are both progressing favourably. Have sent copy of his letter to both addresses. Would like to hear how Mother is getting on at Clevedon and news from that end. Love from Alec.

*Eva was very deaf and used a series of hearing aids with varying degrees of success. She was often to be seen fumbling down the front of her dress to adjust volume control, for example, and there would sometimes be unearthly squeals from the device as it picked up some extraneous signal from elsewhere – hence Alec’s remark in one letter about it potentially interfering with the TV signal. Karma got him in the end; the deafness turned out to be hereditary, but by then the design of hearing aids had developed considerably and there was less comedic potential to be had.

**St Andrews clearly still supports a thriving community.