* * * * *
30 May 1992
Dear
Jan and Paul,
I've
been thinking about you guys lately, some time ago actually, as March rolled
around and I thought this was the time last year when you came over. So now it is May. Talk about delayed reaction!
You
forgot to tell us about the oil-seed rape.
It was spectacular over the last months, brilliant lemony yellow fields,
which are just now fading. I made three
trips to the airport (two Gatwick, one Heathrow) during May and I got some good
looks, it was truly something. It seems
that we have had a steady procession of flowers since February. The roses have just BURST upon the scene and
they too are something else. The
Cambridge Evening News says this is shaping up as the hottest May since 1833,
and the May 25 bank holiday was the hottest on record. Nothing outrageous mind you, about 77! Last few days we have had some heavy showers
which have cooled things off nicely. Now
the poppies are starting to bloom by the roadside.
Since
I last wrote, we went to Venice the last week of February. It was mystical and magical. Weather was lovely, we stayed not far from
St. Mark's, many people in costume, walking around in pairs, never saying a
word, just posing for photographers. We
had the city almost to ourselves during the weekdays; by Saturday and Sunday it
was jammed and I can see that Venice would not be a lot of fun under those
circumstances. We took the train both
ways, about 24 hours, including a night's sleep on the train, which is not all
that relaxing. Still we all had a great
time.
After
Lent term was out in March, we all hopped into the VW and drove down to Rome,
taking three days to get there and stopping in St. Quentin, Basel and
Milano. We had found for us a pensione very close to St. Peter's and
did our best to get out and see the sights everyday, usually leaving three at
the room and taking one of the older ones with us. A pizza bar just a door or two away became
our hangout. At the bar and just about
everywhere the people loved Thomas, the piccolo,
as the bar owner called him. We saw the
pope with thousands, but were close enough to the aisle that Jeffrey, Mara and
Robert managed a handshake or a pat on the head from the Holy Father. It was a bit like a rugger scrum and Robert
emerged showing the wear from the great squish, but nobody complained; we even
got Jeffrey to agree to wash his hands afterwards. Everyone's favorite was the Pieta, though I
think mine was the Sistine Chapel. The
weather was about five or so degrees warmer than here and it seemed that we had
suddenly descended into spring, wisteria in bloom, green trees.... The downside was that everyone except me came
down with tonsillitis. Fortunately we
had a bottle of penicillin which we could pass around, though it was a real
battle trying to get Thomas to take those evil tasting tablets. We mixed them in Ribena, chocolate, anything
we could think of, but he wouldn't go for it.
Finally, we found children's amoxicillin at the pharmacy and were given
it over the counter. Hooray!
From
Rome we drove up to a hillside villa in Tuscany. We had outings to Florence, Siena and San
Gimignano during our week. Nothing was
too crowded, but the weather could have been better. It rained quite a bit and with our central
heating on and a lot of windows in the flat, we ended up with mud on the tile
floor and pools of condensation as well.
It was an effort to keep it clean, but I suppose cleaning is a good way
to fill up the spare time with no TV.
From
Tuscany we drove to Salzburg for a night then four nights in Munich. Salzburg was lovely and we happened to go on
the prettiest day of the trip. Lots of
green fields and forests, with the rugged, snow capped Alps in the
background. Munich was busier. We found it hard to get used to German, after
all the Italian and French we have been used to hearing, but I think we all
enjoyed it, visiting the kids museum, BMW museum, Art Museum and, of course,
the beer halls. Cathy at least ordered a
liter, though she didn't do too well. We
found the place to order sausage and sauerkraut; it was delicious. Lots of churches. Munich was the seat of the counter
Reformation, and a staunchly Catholic region (also where the Nazis
started!). As a sobering experience, we
visited Dachau. Not much to say about
that except to wonder how it happened, but then you know that it starts with
little lies and grows to bigger ones, with nobody willing to stand up and tell
the truth.
Speaking
about standing up, I gave Cathy the Jan Sicking award last week when she called
the school and spoke to the Deputy Head about bullying in Robert's class. Robert never said anything about it, but we
were watching a show about a girl who committed suicide because of bullying,
and the conversation turned to a kid in Robert's class (walks funny because bad
tendons) who many of the kids call names and even go so far as to take his
snack away everyday. It's the worst of
the British school system, just like you hear.
Cathy gave Robert a snack to give to this boy (he said, "Ta")
and then called the school. Robert had
just sort of accepted this as the normal order of things, saying the boy didn't
seem to mind. I don't think I would have
done what Cathy did!
Cathy
and I continue to visit London regularly, mostly to see plays and art
shows. We missed the St. John choristers
singing from the roof of the chapel in town, but the children went. On bank holiday we went to Audley End for a sheep
dog display and then over to the Clavering Fete. Two weeks before it was the Essex Young
Farmers' Show. My parents were here
again in May and we finally made it to York on a lovely day. We're keeping up with the television
shows. I think over the last month we
saw four of them, the best of which was "Anglo Saxon Attitudes." Keep an eye open on PBS for it, it was very
very English. Robert didn't make the
cricket team but he is the scorer. The
school has games on Mondays and Wednesdays and gets a pretty good turn out from
the parents. The weather so far has made
the afternoon games just perfect, starting at 2:15 and ending at 6, with tea
sometime around 4. I have got tickets
and plan on taking Jeffrey and Robert to see the England/Pakistan test match at
Lords in June.
This
week coming up is the big week of tests at school. Everyone has been busily "revising"
his or her work over the year. Jeffrey
makes his first communion on the 7th.
Robert goes to France with the French class on the 9th for the day. Summer term half term is 12th to 26th and
then school gets out on the 22nd of July.
We've booked a return on the 28th and plan to meet our VW in New York
and head home, hoping we can add eight more states to our total of 17 so our
trip will have covered half. I have to
drop the car off in Germany (Emden) around the 24th of June for shipment
home. That reminds me that we haven't
firmed up any shipment of our stuff back home, did you use someone in Cambridge
or have a name you can recommend?
We
hadn't met any ex-pats for awhile to talk about the British, but finally
managed to spend the day with our lawyer friend in London who helped with
immigration and is now redundant by her LA firm. It was a great day: the Chelsea Flower show
and our first Pimm's and lemonade, and a chance to talk about things we notice
different. How much fun!
See
you soon. Our love to Carry, Danny and Alison.
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