Point View Drive, 24th May 1987
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| [The Rotorua date should be September not May] |
Dear Mum and Dad,
Thank you for your letter of May 6th with all the news of Dad's operation. I am glad everything is going well and you are beginning to get back to a more normal routine and looking forward to Elizabeth's visit.
We have been having a busy time here in our university and school holidays. Linda and I went down to Rotorua and Taupo for three days and had a very relaxing time. We stayed at the THC Hotel in Wairakei for two nights - they had a special holiday offer - and we had dinner with Dawn and David, friends who live in Taupo. We played a little tennis, some indoor bowls and snooker, and also spent a lot of time relaxing in the thermal pools.
The following weekend Harriet and Kate came back from a week with their father and have been with us until yesterday. Lewis also came to stay for a couple of days and Linda's parents came over one Sunday for lunch together with Linda's eldest sister Cheryl and her daughter, Clare, who is the same age as Harriet. Clare stayed for three nights so the three girls have been playing a lot together. Also Kate and Harriet have been going to ballet lessons in Howick each day so we have been ferrying them there and back. Linda's mum and dad leave for a ten week world trip next week - USA, England, Europe, Russia and then back to Perth, Western Australia, to stay with their youngest son, Kelly, and his wife. They are very excited by the trip which they have been saving up for for eighteen months.
| [I kept this in my box of treasures until the 2011 World Cup when I gave it to be kept for my grandson Dominic.] |
Yesterday was a lovely sunny day so we went with Kate, Harriet and Lewis to Waiwera to the hot pools and had a picnic and a swim there. We have been seeing a bit of Lewis lately since he broke his thumb in three places a few weeks ago while playing football [i.e. soccer] so now he is out of action on the sporting front. He is doing very well at school and should qualify to go to University next year altho' he may decide to go to work for a year first.
The coup in Fiji has been in the headlines here for the last ten days. Most people here are pretty disgusted with the attitude of the outgoing government [in Fiji] to their election loss and that they have clearly backed a military takeover rather than let the new Labour government function, especially since the new government was anti-nuclear and was also threatening to expose a lot of corruption in the previous administration. It seems now that the Fijian Indians will be effectively disenfranchised. We have a lot of them as students at the university here so we are quite worried about the racial tension in Fiji.
Lots of love from all of us here. John xx
28th June 1987
Dear Mum, Dad and Elizabeth,
Thanks for telephoning on my birthday. It was good to hear you. I received a pair of pyjamas that Linda bought for me with the money you sent - very needed and very welcome. Thank you. We had some friends and their children over on the Saturday evening before my birthday and lit the big fire in the lounge and had a lovely meal and cosy evening. I'm to buy myself an electric razor when we next get to the shops.
Lewis is back playing soccer now after his broken thumb recovered - he broke it again at karate a few weeks ago. We haven't seen Stuart for a while and he has now moved with some friends to a house at Red Beach, near Orewa just north of Auckland. He still works in the city.
Sorry to see you have to put up with five more years of Mrs.Thatcher. There seems to be a real north-south divide in Britain now; at least the Scots made it clear what they think of her. Our election will be in August and it seems pretty certain that Labour will get back in for another three years. At present they are leading National in the public opinion polls by 26%, 61% to 35% the biggest gap in the history of polling in New Zealand so if the Nats win it will be amazing. The government has taken a lot of steps to revitalise the New Zealand economy and is also fairly popular on its non-nuclear policy. In addition the opposition is in some disarray since Mr. Muldoon, although replaced as leader after the last general election, is still more popular within the National Party than any of his successors.
Yesterday evening Linda and I went to the Law Students Society Annual Dinner Dance at the St. Leger room at Ellerslie racecourse. Had a lovely meal and a dance and they had a woman judge as the guest speaker. All very dressy. I think it is time I bought a new suit since I haven't done so since arriving here in 1972! Earlier in the day we had been to and fro with Kate and Harriet to the ballet classes in Highland Park when they had an afternoon presentation and tea for all those who had successfully completed their Royal Academy of Ballet examinations. Today we are having a quiet time at home catching up on some study and letter writing.
Winter has been pretty mild so far with the occasional very cold snap. But there are already narcissi and jonquils everywhere in the 'garden'. No, we haven't thought of a new name for the house yet. Harriet wants to call it 'Daylight Saving Tree House'! - she likes the light on the trees in the summer.
Love to you all, John, Linda and families.
xx
August 2nd 1987
Dear Mum and Dad,
Thank you for your letter and your best wishes on our engagement. We have tentatively set the date for Saturday December 5th but this depends on finding someone suitable to conduct a ceremony and also a place to have it. We will have a reception here afterwards and then have a couple of weeks holiday before coming back and organising for Christmas. Everyone seems very pleased for us which is nice. We thought Kate and Harriet might wonder what having a stepfather would entail - since step-parents always seem to be 'baddies' in children's stories - but they were very excited at the idea of a wedding and volunteered straightaway to be flower girls. Linda's family seem very happy for us. We spoke to her Mum and Dad on the phone at their hotel in Bloomsbury and they will be back here next weekend after staying in Perth, Western Australia with their son Kelly and his wife. It seems like they have had a great trip so we will be looking forward to hearing all about it.
Last night we went to Stuart's place at Red Beach for his 21st birthday party. We had been over for dinner with Lewis a couple of weeks before so knew Stuart's flatmates. Linda spent most of the day cooking savouries and sweets for the party which was a very loud and noisy affair with all his many friends. He must be about 6'3" now and weighs over 13 stone so is an impressive looking fellow. Lewis was there really enjoying himself too - dancing and chatting away like we couldn't believe; he's always so quiet when he is with us. Pat dropped Lewis off but didn't stay for more than half an hour. We left and came home about 1a.m. and they were still going strong. Stuart got your card and money gift and promised me he would write and thank you but don't hold your breath! Pat gave him a microwave oven and some cooking utensils to go with it. I gave him an album of all his childhood photographs (about 120 of them) and also some money to help him with his flying lessons or his planned trip to Europe next year. He seems to be doing very well in his job but is also looking round for other opportunities.
I have written to Sacha care/of Sweetings [her grandparents in Southall] and had a card from her in Spain saying that she was planning to stay there another month, perhaps working there too.
I did receive your card of Holland House; thankyou very much. Also one from Stuart [my younger brother] when he was in Italy at Lake Como. And it was Orewa where we played rounders on the beach and had a meal in the family restaurant there. You have a very good memory.
The enclosed photo was taken in May; it's the only recent one we have.
Hope you are well and not getting too tired.
Lots of love from all here, John, Linda and families.
Rotorua, 2nd September 1987
Dear Mum and Dad,
Linda, Harriet, Kate and I are just spending a few days of the school holidays in Rotorua. We came down on Sunday and go back tomorrow, Thursday. So far the weather has been good but today it is raining so we are catching up with some letter writing. We are staying in a Motel quite near the centre of the town; it's main attraction is that it has a heated swimming pool and an outdoor play area for children with swings and trampolines so it is almost as popular as the holiday attractions of Rotorua. So far we have been to the trout springs - Rainbow and Fairy Springs; a model farm where there is a show at which you can milk the cow, sit on the bull, feed the lambs, churn the butter etc; to one of the thermal areas (Tikitere or Hell's Gate); and to a maze, so we have been having lots of fun. Also taking photographs so we should have some new ones to send you soon, it being quite a long time since we had a film developed.
Thank you for your letter of 16th August which arrived last week. Dad's health doesn't sound too brilliant so I hope you are managing O.K. and not getting too stressed. Let me know if there is anything useful I can do.
13th Sept. I'm afraid I didn't finish this letter at Rotorua but we had a pleasant few days break and are now back to our more normal working routines. Thanks for the card from Colwall; it sounds as though you have had some good summer weather and been able to relax a bit. I don't know what happened to our winter; it seems to have largely passed us by this year so that most of the times we have had the open fire going it has been for fun rather than heat.
Do you remember Roddy Skinner who was a student with me at L.S.E. and is Scots? Well he was here last Thursday and Friday on a business visit so we had him over for dinner and then went to lunch with him the next day. He has worked for many years now for the European Commission in Brussels - the administrative part of the EEC [European Economic Community] or Common Market. He is currently on a three year assignment to their office in Canberra, Australia and was over here as Deputy Head of a Trade Commission. His wife and son will probably be with him next time he comes since he wants to take a holiday in NZ at some stage. It was great to see him again and gossip about old pals.
I haven't heard from Sacha in a while but gather via Pat's mother that she has gone back to Spain. She has a boyfriend there who runs a ranch and organises horsey things for tourists so that sounds like the main attraction plus the warm climate. Lewis came and stayed last weekend and we all played some tennis which was good exercise. He is studying very hard for his university bursary exams in November.
Lots of love from us all 'down under'.
John, Linda and the children. xxx
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