Thursday 30th August 1945, Marks Hall

Margaret darling,
                        The Griffiths pre-release celebrations which arouse so much apprehension in you are pursuing quite an orderly course. Yesterday we all went to a Colchester cinema in the afternoon, had dinner in his hotel at halstead afterwards and then spent the remainder of the night in a pub near Braintree. The presence of Mrs Griffiths prevented any excessive alcoholism.

                       The picture was To Have & Have Not with Humphrey Bogart and the Bacall woman. This lady is very skinny and her face is really extremely ugly but she certainly puts across the rather limited range of emotions demanded of a Hemingway heroine. She moves with a kind of slouching grace, contrives to look very smouldering and suggestive, and sings in a rather fetching low voice. Humphrey Bogart gave as usual a very good representation of H. Bogart.

                     It has just been announced that cypher officers in groups 21 and 22 are to be released during October so the RAF is still a little bit ahead of the Govt. schedule. Unfortunately the Groups get much larger above 22, and even if they manage to release one group per month in our trade, I won't be out till February. It is all very tiresome as you say: it would be so nice to start off together right from the beginning of our new life.

                     I got your Tuesday letter last night. It's strange you should be re-reading John Macnab as I aslo found it in the library here and decided to have another go at it. I find that Buchan seems more and more dated every time I read him nowadays. His five representatives of the ruling and officer class and his intelligent, humorous and yet extremely respectful members of the lower orders all belong to a vanished age. I like him best now in these novels like Salute to Adventurers where he gets away from modern times.

                  With regard to your exhortations to use my coupons, I won't be in London before I go on leave but when I am in Glasgow I'll buy whatever you suggest. I need some more light underwear but apart from that I seem to be quite well stocked. This winter is going to be rather grim in many ways - chiefly in the matter of fuel - and I hope we don't get much frost and snow. I still think that before the end of autumn we should fill our green box with coal. When I'm on leave I'll pack it with lumps from the bunker which can then be refilled.

                  I'm glad to hear that you are still feeling so fit. Four weeks today I hope to be travelling north and I'm looking forward very much to seeing you again. I'll be very pleased to stay at 155* if it is convenient. Give my regards to the family. ......


*155 Hyndland Road; home of his in-laws.

Reasons for absence

For anyone wondering why there is such a long gap between postings at this point, I should explain that there are in fact no letters for the months of May and June, 1945 - indeed, none until mid-July. As I am trying to post them at more or less the date on which they were written, none will appear until 19 July. I suspect that the gap was created by (a) Margaret Findlay's holidays in Fintry, at the manse where Dan Findlay's uncle, the Revd Dan Gerrard, lived - the kind of house where, if I can remember it rightly, anything might cheerfully get lost - (b) Dan Findlay's hospitalization in Essex as a result of recurring sciatica and (c) the leave to which he had been looking forward.

Wednesday 14 February 1945, Colchester

My darling
                  Back once again in my little tin hut. It is a heavy change after nine glorious days (and nights) of happiness and enjoyment but I expect I'll soon get accustomed to my bondage again. [Presumably the hoped-for leave had materialised successfully]


                  My journey was very pleasant. The train was late and did not get into London till after nine o'clock. If I had been sitting in cramped misery that would have been most trying for me but as it was, it simply meant a nice long sleep. I had breakfast in Euston and then decided to take the 11.10 from Liverpool Street. This got me to Kelvedon at 12.45 and on emerging from the station I found the same taxi that took me to the station 10 days ago. The driver looked as if he had been slumbering there ever since and in this somnolent neighbourhood I believe such a thing is quite possible. This providential taxi enabled me to get to the Mess in time for lunch.

                 Your food was very welcome. I ate all the sandwiches and cake but not the biscuits. However the latter will keep and will be very welcome for the odd spasm of hunger during the day.

                 Today is simply glorious and at midday it was really summerlike. I hope you had the same kind of weather in Glasgow. The past week has been very wet here, I'm told, and they had one very heavy fall of wet snow while I was away. I hope it stays mild and fair now for though weather doesn't really matter at all on leave, it makes a great difference to one's spirits and comfort under our present conditions.

                  During my absence thick linoleum has been laid on the concrete floor of our hut so the place is much less prison-like. It still looks rather grim after our lovely drawing room and the camp armchair I'm sitting on is a miserable substitute for the armchairs I've recently been lolling in. However I'll get used to these changes.
.....

                 Davis, one of my hut mates, has just bought a bicycle and is at present exploring the country on it. I might feel tempted to follow his example except for the fact that at bike would be utterly useless to me later on.

                 The feel of my stubbly chin reminds me that I must shave before dinner. I'll post this tonight in the hope that you will get it on Saturday. I hope your return to school wasn't too distasteful.* At any rate you have not much longer to go in that arduous profession. Take all possible care of yourself ...



* Did teachers, I wonder, get time off work if their husband was home on leave? It sounds like it. And although his wife did indeed give up teaching for some years, she returned to the job in the late'50s and went on teaching primary children till she was 65.