From Melbourne 18.6.85

From Melbourne

18.6.85

Dear Alan, Lorna and Melissa and Jolene,

                                                                                I am enclosing a couple of things we got in Tonga. There were a lot of things there that reminded us of Natal. The basketweaving that the people do there reminded me very much of the Zulus. As you can see from the bag some of the same patterns. I think the work we saw at Eshowe would be stronger and last longer because it is made of a stronger material. The Tongans use a small sort of palm tree which is free and they do it quickly so it doesn’t matter if it doesn’t last forever. The necklace reminded me of the bead work of the Zulu’s also. I think it is coral but I am not sure.  I thought that Melissa would look nice with the necklace and Jolene with the bag but if you like them the other way around it doesn’t matter.

                We did have a good time because Pamela was able to show us around.  She has made some very good friends with a few of the teachers who are Tongans. We were able to spend several days just in their homes and at their bush block. Every family is supposed to have a few acres which they can live off. If they use it properly it is enough but because of too many people not everyone has a block now. We spent a day at Mele T’s place while they prepared food for a feast. For the conference of their church that was being held at the school Pamela teaches at. They killed seven young pigs. All the family and relatives help. Not many of them have got jobs. After the pigs are cooked they put out the fire and put yams and other food on the hot stones cover with dirt and leave about 1 hour to cook.

 We went to several of the feasts at the conference but I didn’t eat any pig because I was frightened they might have tape worm in them.

                In the market photo you can see all the baskets they make from coconut leaves they are very common. Nobody here ever carries anything on their head. Also we saw no babies, no prams or pushers. The babies and toddlers are always left at home with another relative. 

                The main street of Nuka-alofa reminded me a little of Butterworth. Usually more people than in the photo. Everyone moves slowly. Shabby and not much in good condition. Nobody worries very much. I don’t think anyone there has high blood pressure unless it is because they are too fat. They do like to eat.

                We did like the photos of Jolene and Melissa in the swimming pool.  We will most likely come over again and I think I would be quite happy to spend all our time in Natal. It is a lovely place. Fiji reminded us a lot of Natal.  Sugar cane, green plants everywhere and lots of Indians, lots of Fijians and very few white people. The white people are a very small percent.  Indians seem to run all the businesses and the Fijians have all the “lower” jobs.  By now Alan should have finished running for a while. Maybe gardening would be easier. You said you grew lots of brinjals.  But I didn’t know what it is. My tomatoes for a couple of years were so bad that I didn’t even plant this year. I’ve got some very good silver beet growing but it is easier to grow in our climate. While we were in Tonga I didn’t have a cardigan or stockings on the whole time. Most people just wear thongs or have bare feet. No one wore a hat. Some use umbrellas but mostly they keep out of the sun.

                Everybody is spoken to by their first name so we do not even know Mele T’s other name.  To distinguish Mele T from Mele F. Mele is Mary and is a very common name. The principal of the school is only known by her Christian name even by the girls.

                Almost every day there is something in the newspaper about South Africa you could say the flavor for the moment to criticise South Africa. There is a lot of argument going on how we should treat SA. There is a wide range of ideas from the left to the right. You could not say there is a common policy. Mention SA and you are liable into a discussion whether you want to or not. I am sure that Bob Hawke wishes he had never heard of SA. Most people have very definite ideas of what is happening in SA even if they really know nothing about the place.

                About the only thing that people get worked up about in Australia is whether the government is taking too much tax. We really are rather selfish but there isn’t much else too debate.

                You should see our house at Trentham, Alan, we have just had all the windows replaced. It isn’t finished yet but he place looks so much better. Now we can open all the windows.

                Melissa – I have a boy at the kindergarten who has a leg like yours. In the holidays he got a new leg because he had grown so much.  The other children were fascinated because he was so pleased with his new leg that he took it off to show them. This time his foot looks almost real with toes marked but the leg is still hard. He is just like you he does everything the other children do. Sometimes he can’t do it as well but he just tries again I think he will get on. He’s an optimist.

                Jolene – Next time you write what about drawing a picture of your house and the garden around it so we can see what it is like. You both look good in your bathers.

                Love from Mom and Grandma

               

               

                 

From Empangeni : Photos of the Comrades 1985

From Empangeni 16.6.85

From Empangeni

16.6.85

Dear Mom and Dad,

We received your letter about your holiday and it sounds as if you had an enjoyable time. It will be nice to see some of your photos.

I am sending you a page out of the local newspaper about the comrades marathon. Alan did very well as there was +- 10000 entrants and +- 8000 runners who completed and he came 2827^th. The winner, Bruce Fordyce, has won the race 5 times running and completing it in +- 5 ½ hours which is a record. After the race , Alan was totally exhausted and lost several toe nails and has a blister covering most of one foot because he wore shoes that were slightly too large for him. It took him about two weeks to recover and even now he still is not running as much as before he started training. It was quite a boost to get his picture in the newspaper living in a small town, everybody reads the paper so everytime we see somebody they mention it.

The schools here are breaking up next week for 3 weeks and Melissa’s school is putting on a concert for the parents called “around the world”. They will both get spots, so I will let you know how they are doing.

                Love from Lorna

PS Alan asks for a full birth certificate and not an extract. He needs to renew his passport before August.

Photos : Tonga 1985

From Melbourne 29.5.85

From Melbourne

29.5.85

Dear Alan,

                                We returned a few days ago from our trip to Tonga and Fiji and are still trying to sort it out in our minds. Tonga is a delightful place but certainly not as complex as South Africa. If you wanted a place to go and forget the rest of the world then Tonga would be hard to beat. While we were there the weather was perfect, the food in plentiful supply and the people extremely friendly and hospitable.  Through Pamela we were able to meet many of the local people and get out into the villages. We had the privilege of partaking in the preparation of a traditional feast (pigs, yams, chicken, and fruit) and then helped demolish the food at a meeting at their church. Most of the Tongans belong to the Wesleyan Methodist Church and our visit coincided with their annual conference, attended by delegates from all parts of the country. Pamela works in one of the church’s schools and the delegates occupied the dormitories of the school as the girls s were on holidays.   This enabled us to attend one of their services where the feature was the performance of about eight choirs and three brass bands. They are great musicians and it was a memorable experience.

                Another great experience was a boat trip to a small island off the main island. It was possible to walk around the island in about half an hour but what a paradise!

                The whole kingdom of Tonga (it’s still a monarchy) is almost idyllic; good climate; no tension; virtually no politics. Unlike most third-world countries it is not short of food although the people have very little material goods.

                They do have free medical services and at the hospital they have several dentists one of whom was a graduate of Melbourne and I think he would have been on your course.

                Pamela is in charge of the library at the school and I think is doing a good job. She has poor facilities but is doing her utmost to encourage the girls to read. She finds it hard to interest the girls in good literature but is happy if they are reading, even if it is only sloppy romances. The Tongans are amiable and easy-going and rather hard to motivate. But maybe they have the right attitude for there is little evidence of high-blood pressure and ulcers among the people. 

                On the way back we spent three days in Fiji, a beautiful country but more geared for tourism. About 100,000 Australians visit Fiji each year and most spend all of their time at the beach resorts and learn little about the country.  Duty-free shopping is a big thing and the plane home was full of people laden with everything from watches to color TV sets. Not a pretty site.

                Parts of Fiji reminded me of very much of Natal particularly in the sugar-growing areas. The capital, Suva, is very like Durban although much smaller; even the shopkeepers are Indians. 

                The Indians went to Fiji to work in the canefields and, just like Natal, now have a stranglehold on the commerce. They now compromise over 50% of the population.

                All in all we thoroughly enjoyed the trip and it was good to see Pamela again. Two overseas trips in one year and for my part I hope it’s not the last!

                We received a letter from Lorna when we arrived home and your mother will reply when we have our photos developed. Hopefully there will be some suitable ones to send over.

                Everybody is well and we are trying hard to get back into the normal routine.

                                Good luck in the marathon,

                                                                                Kindest regards

                                                                                                                Dad

                

From Empangeni 12.5.85

From Empangeni

12.5.85

Dear Mom and Dad,

Thank you for the birthday card and present. The bag is just the ideal size. We spent the weekend of my birthday at Charters Creek which is part of St Lucia. We stayed in the Parks Board bungalows similar to those at Umfolozi Game Reserve. We saw a lot of hippopotamus but were not enough to get a trip on the launch as it was fully booked.

It has cooled down quite a bit here but I think the cold is only temporary and is only because there is snow in the south.

I have given up work for the moment so that I can complete my studies this year full time. I was finding it difficult to work and study at the same time this year because I would be doing about 6 hours a day for the number of courses that I am doing.

Jolene’s school is having a grandparent’s tea on Wednesday morning and all grandparents are invited. I have had to borrow a granny so that Jolene will not feel left out when she sees the other children with their grannys. Last week they went on an excursion to the beach.

Melissa also had her birthday party last week. She had most of her class at her party and most of them are boys. It was quite an experience to see how boys of her age behave. I think Melissa has about 18 boys and 9 girls in her class but there were only about 25 children a t her party. When I asked Melissa what sort of games the like to play she asked if they could play “pass the parcel” and then they also played “pin the tail on the donkey” (Jolene calls it “pin the donkey on the tail”). The girls enjoyed the games and so did a few boys, but most of the boys thought that they were too tough to play games.  Then I asked the children what they would like to play and the girls asked if they could play “kissing catches”, but I had to put lipstick on the girls, and the boys had to take off their shirts and the girls had to catch them and kiss them on the backs. Some of the boys thought it would be terrible to be kissed by a girl and tried their best to avoid being kissed and others enjoyed it and bragged about how many they had received. One little boy managed to find his way onto the roof of the house. The food that was put out lasted about ten minutes, but I think they all enjoyed it.

Alan is still training very hard for the comrades marathon. I am very pleased about it because I think that Alan does too much for Melissa and Jolene and has really taken particular interest in Melissa’s schoolwork and spends time with her every afternoon while she does her homework. This is a big help to me as well because I have got a lot of work to do as far as my studies go as I am doing 4 courses this year and will be writing 11 exams at the end of the year.

That’s all for now

Love from

Lorna

From Melbourne 7.5.85

From Melbourne

7.5.85

Dear Alan,

                                Haven’t heard from you for some time but assume that the troubles in SA have not affected you. The news we get suggests that most of the trouble has been in the Eastern Cape although some other areas have been mentioned.

                The main news here vis-a-vis SA has been the “rebel” cricket tour. There has been a lot of media coverage.  Passions have been aroused and there has been a lot of debate about dollars Vs conscience.

                I think those going are rather foolish bit it does point out the hypocrisy associated with dealings with South Africa. The chances of a trade embargo are very slim indeed.

                This Saturday we leave for our visit to Tonga. We stay one night in New Zealand where we will meet Pamela who is having a week’s holiday there.  She felt she had to get away from Tonga to a big city for a while. Shows how quiet Tonga must be if New Zealand is a metropolis!

                Pamela will fly back to Tonga with us and we will stay with her for about ten days. On the way home we will spend three days in Fiji. Fiji should be livelier than Tonga but I fancy that there is not much difference between the Pacific islands.  Through Pamela we should get an insight into village life not always possible as a tourist.

                We are anticipating a big change in the weather when we get to the tropics.   Although we have just experienced some beautiful l autumn weather. Some of the early football matches were played in temperatures in excess of 30 degrees.

                Speaking of football, Footscray is doing well and recently defeated Essendon before the biggest crowd for 15 years at the Western Oval after losing to Melbourne the week before. Should be a very interesting season but not as turbulent as the All Blacks visit to South Africa.

                We’re expecting a lazy time in Tonga so you might get a letter from there. It should be interesting but I don’t think it will match South Africa for a holiday.

                Kindest regards to yourself, Lorna and the girls

                                                                                                                Dad

From Melbourne 16.4.85

From Melbourne

16.4.85

Dear Alan,

                                Congratulations on entering the manacles of matrimony. How many offspring have you produced so far? I am sorry I did not write earlier but there have been a few ups and downs in my life over the past 6 months. I hope your address is correct but if it isn’t I guess you won’t be reading this … so why am I bothering to write it?

                I have been working in Papua New Guinea since Dec last year and have only just returned to Oz. I had an interesting job up there but was forced to leave due to repeated and increasingly violent attacks on myself. Apparently, and unfortunately, I inherited a payback feud which was originally aimed at my predecessor in the position a pom. This was a pity as the clinical work was great…. Even if the conditions, equipment, materials and staff were not.

                I was one dentist to 330,000 people all of whom were in need of dental help.  I was shocked by the fuckin’ low standard of dental health. Anyway     I spent 99.99% of my time playing oral surgeon and learnt a lot. It was bloody good experience that I could not possible get in Australia.  I received any amount of 8’s, saw a hell of a lot of oral CA and had a go at removing a few of the smaller ones, wired broken jaws. I was even asked to repair a middle third fracture … with no fuckin’ Levant frames etc. It is bloody amazing what you can do when you have to! It has made me bloody cynical about the position that oral surgeons put themselves in in Australia. They are full of shit in my opinion I certainly won’t be referring too many patients to them in the future! Actually since you left the numbers of oral surgeons in Melbourne has probable doubled.

                As this is the first job I can truly say I enjoyed I will be looking for another like it. Right now I am doing nothing but am planning to go to the UK by about the middle of next month. I have a work permit for the UK which I was bloody lucky to get as a week after I get it the immigration policy was changed and no longer will Aust doctors and dentists be given easy access to permits. Thus, so long as enter the country within 6 months my permit is valid. I only intend doing a few locum positions to stop me from going broke….that is if there are jobs available. Obviously the reason the immigration policy was changed must be because they no longer need our wonderful help.                     

  

                I have plenty of pommie friends who I intend to visit and parasitise and this is the real reason for going.  I also have a girlfriend in Holland who has asked me to visit so no matter what I do I should have a good time. God, I’ve been talking about going to the UK ever since I graduated! 

Remember how we tentatively we’re thinking of going early 1980? Well at bloody last I’ll get there! 

 

                Well that is about all I can be bothered writing for now. Please keep in touch and if you see any jobs that may interest me please let me know.  As I intend seeing a bit of the world before I return to work in Aust don’t be surprised if I visit RSA.

                Let me know how life’s treating you, you old bastard!

                                                                                Regards CJ

Newspaper Cuttings : 1985

From Melbourne 2.4.85

From Melbourne

2.4.85

Dear Alan,

                Recent events in South Africa have received a lot of media coverage here and I have enclosed a number of cuttings to indicate the type of article which has been appearing. The recent shootings have certainly given South Africa a bad press throughout the world and made the faith of reform a lot harder. The articles by James Hilton were well written and I think presented a very sane approach. For a Queensland conservative he’s very enlightened.

                Most people in Australia do not seem to understand the complexity of the situation over there. Too many expect a very simple solution, while others expect it to end in a disastrous conflagration. I do not know the answer but I am inclined to think some form of coalition of the different groups or a form of federalism will emerge. Will be interesting to see what happens.

                Politics in Australia is nowhere near as serious. The big issues are taxation and asset tests for pensioners with a lot of hoo-ha about anti-nuclear attitudes. Largely self-interest and self-indulgence.

                The football season has started so that tends to direct people to the serious side of life although we did have a lot of time spent on cricket in the summer. Footscray and Melbourne both started with impressive wins; can hey keep going!

                We are getting organized for our trip to Tonga in the May school holidays. We will spend about ten days with Pamela and about four days in Fiji on the way back.

                Received a letter today from Lorna with a letter from the girls. Thank you.

                                                                                                                                Kindest regards Dad

Photos : Empangeni 1985

From Empangeni 20.3.85

From Empangeni

20.3.85

Dear Mr & Mrs Carlton

I am sending you a letter from Melissa and some pictures from Jolene. Melissa started writing the letter before the gala and that is why she changed “am swimming” to “swam” and you will notice that Jolene signed her name herself. Melissa came last in the gala but there was only 6 people selected to swim in each event and she was quite lucky to be selected to swim.

Alan ran in the marathon in Durban in preparation for the comrades marathon which is on the 31^st May. He intends doing few more marathons before then. The comrades marathon is a 92 km run from Durban to Pietermaritzburg and so he is doing a lot of training at the moment.

Melissa was very pleased with the books and the shirt that you sent her. They also bought bikinis with the money.  I don’t know if you would like them to call you granny or grandpa or not. I will be quite glad when everything is over because he has been running twice a day. He says that after the race he will probably get a bicycle and cycle to work and back every day. Now that it is not as hot he is doing a bit of gardening. The vegetables that he planted before Christmas have just come to an end. We had a lot of brinjals, a few green peppers and butternut. The tomatoes did not do so well, but I think it is difficult to grow things here because of the heat and the insects.

  Alan got a letter from a friend of his that studied with him and said that he had been working in New Guinea. From the sounds of things it appears that the work that he did is much the same as what Alan does here.  Alan seems to be doing more and more fractured jaws all the time. The first time Alan had done a fracture was when he worked in the Transkei. Most of the patients are either accident or assault victims.

At the   moment there seems to be  a lot trouble in the black townships, but there is no trouble in Natal except that where my father works there was  a strike  and the employees were all fired but with a few exceptions were all reemployed, but most of the trouble is in the Eastern Cape.

Lots of love

                Lorna

Melissa and Jolene like any books and have enjoyed all the books you have sent them.

From Melbourne

From Melbourne

Dear Alan, Lorna, Melissa and Jolene,

                                                                It is nearly a year since we came over to your place and saw  you and I am sure that the two girls must have grown a little so when you take some new photos could you please have one of each of the girls.

                Almost everyday we have something in the newspaper about South Africa. Beverley is studying Africa but not South Africa but she would like just articles from your papers about the trouble in the Eastern Cape. This seems to be where most of the trouble is according to what we read. Does it make a difference to the news you get now that there isn’t a Rand newspaper. It seemed to criticise the government as much as it liked. Is there another paper now that can write how it feels.

                How on earth do you run in that hot weather. It’s bad enough to be out in the sun and have to work when it is hot but to run in it. I don’t know how you do it.

                Melissa the only one who swims. She must enjoy being in the water. Do you ever swim in the sea because you are not very far from the beach. We didn’t see the coast along that part.

                After all the use it has had the Mini has at last been worn out. We can still use it I am using it today but the rings have gone and it is eating oil. We had some advice and they suggested it would be cheaper to get another. (If they refer us one thing which will cost a lot of money and then something else could go wrong. But still it has been a good car and hasn’t cost a lot of money yet. We don’t want another car so it is up to Beverley to decide whether to use it as a trade-in or she can have it for herself. She hasn’t decided yet. We will have to lend her the money & then she can pay us back. Beverley liked the Mini but I suppose it couldn’t go on forever and it has been used a lot and been in a few accidents.

                On the news today was a bit about the mixed marriage laws going. I can’t see how you can do away with those laws without changing a lot of others too you could put in a piece from your paper for Beverley.

                There has been a lot in the paper here about a rebel cricket team going to South Africa but nobody will admit that they are in it. According to some people here there is nothing good about South Africa just even to mention it brings criticism. When you look what happens in a lot of other countries there aren’t too many “pure” which is a pity you can also have the apartheid in South Africa to fall back on. It if wasn’t there then there would be many more countries to criticize.

                Jolene and Melissa tell me next time you write what sort of stories you like best. There are just so many books it is very hard to choose one. Tell me what you like best

                                Love from Mum

                                                Aunty Dorothy

                                                                                or Grandma

                                                                                                which ever you like

.

                 

From Empangeni 10.2.85

From Empangeni

10.2.85

Dear Mum,

                                At the moment it’s raining. The humidity is so high that water condenses on the walls. The weather lately has been just that little bit too hot. We had to install an air conditioner in the bedroom so at least we can sleep at night. But the heat/humidity is the worse I’ve ever experienced.

                Politically the parliaments are now siting. They seem to be panicking. Every day they announce without warning completely out of the blue something which should have been done years ago. I don’t know if such things get into papers over there but it seems certain the immorality act will go, CBD’s will be open to all races and blacks can own property in RSA. Nobody knows what is going to happen next but I know what people are interested in, the economy.

                Some people think the economy will get worse before it gets better. Some think it will just get worse. This disinvestment campaign is also affecting people’s confidence. The Govt must be worried about disinvestment as the SABC is continually telling us how bad it would be for the blacks. I really can’t put up with the arrogance of Americans prescribing solutions for SA blacks. So imagine how the genuine Afrikaaner feels. The right wing CP is in for a very crucial time. So is the NP.

                Locally we even had our own little riot. The blacks were boycotting buses (because the fares were increased because petrol was increased 25 cents overnight because the Rand has slide in value)

                So a mob gathers and forces all the others to join. They burned a few houses and stoned buses etc. The police used rubber bullets and some patients came to our hospital. Now it’s all over except they’re still not using the buses.

                If I read what I wrote it all sounds so depressing but personally I’ve no problems. Everybody is happy and working hard

                                                                Regard Alan

                 

From Melbourne 6.2.85

From Melbourne

6.2.85

Dear Alan

                Happy new year to you all. By now I expect you are all at school or work as we are here – except University students.

                The holidays passed quietly for us; we spent a couple of weeks at Trentham off and on, but did not go much further afield. Beverley spent about 10 days in NSW driving the Commodore which meant we only had the Mini for transport. Yes, believe it or not, the Mini is still hanging together. We would like it to last out this year for Bev’s last year at Uni. If it does it will have served us well, particularly as so many have learnt to drive in it.

                 The main excitement in the holidays was the theft of our TV set. Nothing else stolen, just the set. The police believe those responsible were two young women and that the set was sold the same day. Another example of Australia’s increasing crime-rate. It is still a relatively peaceful society but house breakings have increased alarmingly in recent years along with most of the Western world.  Most of the robberies in Australia are considered to be drug-related, a problem that is probably not as severe in South Africa. But there are enough other problems I suppose.

                South Africa has appeared in our newspapers quite frequently lately. The riots in the townships last year; Senator Kennedy’s visit; Bishop Tutu’s peace prize and enthronement as archbishop have all received a lot of publicity.  All hard news, not what you would read about Australia, which I believe is either sport or trivia.

                A play about South Africa opened in the Arts Center last night and received favorable reviews. Called “Poppie Nongena” it’s about a Xhosa woman’s struggles. Naturally it is anti-Apartheid. We intend seeing it next week.

                We have been twice to the Arts Center in the past week to see a massive production of Charles Dickens’ “Nicholas Nickleby” spread over two nights. One of the best theatrical productions I have ever seen.

                During the holidays there were more severe bushfires in Victoria even though January was extremely cool. Just to hot days, one reaching 41 and it was on.  Incredible as it may seem over twenty houses were destroyed in Melton which is really just suburbia. Most of the fires were in the North-East of the state and we were not threatened at Trentham but in view of the lack of rain the situation will be dangerous for at least another month.

                We just mow the grass down and hope for the best.

                Pamela has been urging us to visit her and we have made bookings for the May school holidays. We will fly to Tonga via New Zealand (only one day in NZ) spend about eight days with Pamela and then about six days in Fiji on the way back. Should give us a good picture of life in the Pacific Islands, somewhat different to South Africa. Tonga is definitely a Third World country but one thing they don’t seem to lack is food.

                Every photo Pamela sends – and she sends many – shows Tongans having a feast. No wonder they are large people. Quite different to the photos we have been seeing in the newspapers of the people in Africa particularly Ethiopia.   

                A friend of Pamela’s went over for three weeks at Christmas and paid us a visit recently. She had a very interesting time although she did not leave the main island. By all accounts Pamela is coping quite well although she seems to get frustrated in her attempts at getting the girls at the school interested in books. According to Pamela Tongans lack motivation. However, as they have plenty of food why should they be concerned about development!

                I met your old friend GP today and he is back living in Sunshine.   He is married and I think has a child, or his wife had a child previously.

                Congratulations to Lorna on passing her exams. We are pleased you have put the gift to such practical use.

                                                                Kindest regards to all

                                                                                                                Dad

From Melbourne 14.1.85

From Melbourne

14.1.85

Dear Alan and Lorna,

                                The reports you sent were very interesting. Both Melissa and Jolene were quite good. Jolene is exactly the age of the children I work with but we don’t have any reports. I could write a report about each child with the same wording because what we do is all the same things but we don’t give the parents reports.

                We do have trouble with some parents whose child has been to kindergarten and the kindergarten teacher thinks the child is not ready for school. There is nothing we can do if the parents say the child has to go to school. He goes whether he is ready or not. Do you have children staying back to repeat a year – either in pre-primary or primary school. There is quite a debate going on now on what is right.

                The newsletter was very good. It had good material for the parents.

                Everyone was interested in the biltong but I don’t think anyone like it. I think you have to be brought up on it. Lois and Anne have both taken some home to try on unsuspecting guests. 

                The photos are not very good. Anne called in this morning with some negatives but the photo I wanted of everyone the negative has been lost. So until I find it I have put in some Lois took and some of Keiths’.

                I have been waiting for Darryl to come out. He said he had some photos he took at your place. So we asked him to come out for tea with Sue and tell us all about his trip but we are still waiting . He’ll come but it will take some time. We know he enjoyed himself. He liked being woken up early by the girls. I think he found them very friendly but that is all we know yet.

                There has been a bit in the paper the last week about South Africa with Kennedy going there. I think I agree with some of the black people who say it is just to have political gain in USA.  Looks as though he might have misjudged it. Serves him right. The more you know about politicians the less respect you have for them. We would be much better off if there were no politicians.

                I have put in a separate letter for Jolene and Melissa. Melissa might be able to read some of it herself.

                                                                                                                         Love from Mum