Maria Callas, thumbs, juice, clowns, fire-eaters, dogs, lions, tigers, leopards Norman and plum mousse
P.O Box 9010
Nairobi
14/3/65
Dearest Mom and Dad,
Thanks for your last letter. I'm glad you're enjoying the Alan Moorhead books, I thought they were just your cup of tea. To read the Blue Nile while in hospital, the part about Ethiopia is really fascinating. What a pity Maria Callas was a disappointment, maybe you caught her on an off night or something!
Glad you're both feeling well. To is fine, except for a sore thumb, which came after a day of solid writing, and swelled up, but it isn't getting better. He's on a strict diet, fruit during the day, and a steak with salads and fruit at night - very healthy, and though he hasn't weighed himself, I can see he has lost a lot of weight already.
I've lost quite a bit too, because, of course, what To eats, I eat! And, quite frankly, I love that sort of food. The only thing I miss is potatoes. When To was in Aden, he bought a juice extractor, and we've been making fruit and vegetable juices - carrot juice especially, as it tastes deliscious, and carrots are cheap - pineapple juice tends to be very acid, and so you have to add a lot of sugar, which isn't so healthy. Even the kids like carrot juice, with salt and lemon juice.
The kids are fighting like dogs around me. Phil is making a tent out of blankets which he won't let the twins use, though I'm threatening all sorts of dreadful punishments. Chris has got all the sticks they collected when they went out this morning and Andy is furious. And they fight by rolling on the ground these days, just like puppies, screaming and yelling.
They are very healthy, brown and full of bounce. We took them all to the circus on Friday night, and Phil was absolutely entranced. He thought the clown was shrieking funny and the fire eater too wonderful for words. And as for the cowboy who threw knives, well that was shear heaven. I'm just waiting for him to try it out on the twins.
Andy enjoyed it too, but my poor Chris was finished by the first act - the lions and tigers snarling about three feet away from him was his idea of hell, and as soon as it was finished he gave a big sigh of relief, and said loudly, "Now, let's go home". He hated the clown, and nearly fainted when the clown came and combed To's hair with a huge comb!
Our nights have been hideous for the past week because Flammy has been on heat, and all the dogs of the neighbourhood have visited us - with Whiz fighting every one. Whiz is exhausted, he's not as young as he was, and his face all swollen from his fights to keep the others off his property! But today we gave Flammy away, to Odaoda, our servant's nephew, a very nice young man with a university education, a plant entymologist. His father is only a house servant, so he must have worked like a slave to have got him through university, and Odaoda is going to send his youngest son, the clever one, to university too - not easy on ten pounds a month!
Exams are in the offing at school, which means lots of work for everyone, pupils and teachers! But holidays in three weeks, I can't wait. Though I have a lot of work to do, what with the new flat and that thesis to translate. But the boys will be at Nursery school, and I'm so longing for the peace!
Otherwise, there is not much news here. To is happy to be back at work, with something to take his mind off his health. He comes home at six thirty sharp, and I'm making him go straight to bed for the rest of this month, to make quite certain of no relapse. And by April, all going well, he should be able to lead a completely normal life again. But I am not going to let him work 12 hours a day ever again!
We got a rather sad letter from Norman, his trial is still dragging on, and he's already been in jail 9 months. Poor Phil, [Phillipa Levy] with the three kids and a full-time job, is having a tough time, and Mary wrote to me to say that old Mrs. Levy is failing fast, and will not last much longer.
The weather is still glorious, but strange to see the grass so brown and dry in the middle of summer. While I was driving to fetch To one evening last week, I suddenly saw what I first thought was a large dog running across the road - imagine my surprise when I passed it and saw it was a leopard! It had come out of the Langata forest, and run right across the tar road - a main road, not a mile away from the Kenya army headquarters.
The wild life is cretainly flourishing - a large black bird about the size of a chicken, with brilliant red wings, hangs around here, and calls its mate with horrible yells all throughout the night. The kids are terrified of it, and even I don't like it all that much!
And that's all. I'm going to make a plum mousse now - To went mad and bought four dozen eggs because they were cheap, so I can be as extravagant as I like with them.
Keep well, all my love,
Eve
Nairobi
14/3/65
Dearest Mom and Dad,
Thanks for your last letter. I'm glad you're enjoying the Alan Moorhead books, I thought they were just your cup of tea. To read the Blue Nile while in hospital, the part about Ethiopia is really fascinating. What a pity Maria Callas was a disappointment, maybe you caught her on an off night or something!
Glad you're both feeling well. To is fine, except for a sore thumb, which came after a day of solid writing, and swelled up, but it isn't getting better. He's on a strict diet, fruit during the day, and a steak with salads and fruit at night - very healthy, and though he hasn't weighed himself, I can see he has lost a lot of weight already.
I've lost quite a bit too, because, of course, what To eats, I eat! And, quite frankly, I love that sort of food. The only thing I miss is potatoes. When To was in Aden, he bought a juice extractor, and we've been making fruit and vegetable juices - carrot juice especially, as it tastes deliscious, and carrots are cheap - pineapple juice tends to be very acid, and so you have to add a lot of sugar, which isn't so healthy. Even the kids like carrot juice, with salt and lemon juice.
The kids are fighting like dogs around me. Phil is making a tent out of blankets which he won't let the twins use, though I'm threatening all sorts of dreadful punishments. Chris has got all the sticks they collected when they went out this morning and Andy is furious. And they fight by rolling on the ground these days, just like puppies, screaming and yelling.
They are very healthy, brown and full of bounce. We took them all to the circus on Friday night, and Phil was absolutely entranced. He thought the clown was shrieking funny and the fire eater too wonderful for words. And as for the cowboy who threw knives, well that was shear heaven. I'm just waiting for him to try it out on the twins.
Andy enjoyed it too, but my poor Chris was finished by the first act - the lions and tigers snarling about three feet away from him was his idea of hell, and as soon as it was finished he gave a big sigh of relief, and said loudly, "Now, let's go home". He hated the clown, and nearly fainted when the clown came and combed To's hair with a huge comb!
Our nights have been hideous for the past week because Flammy has been on heat, and all the dogs of the neighbourhood have visited us - with Whiz fighting every one. Whiz is exhausted, he's not as young as he was, and his face all swollen from his fights to keep the others off his property! But today we gave Flammy away, to Odaoda, our servant's nephew, a very nice young man with a university education, a plant entymologist. His father is only a house servant, so he must have worked like a slave to have got him through university, and Odaoda is going to send his youngest son, the clever one, to university too - not easy on ten pounds a month!
Exams are in the offing at school, which means lots of work for everyone, pupils and teachers! But holidays in three weeks, I can't wait. Though I have a lot of work to do, what with the new flat and that thesis to translate. But the boys will be at Nursery school, and I'm so longing for the peace!
Otherwise, there is not much news here. To is happy to be back at work, with something to take his mind off his health. He comes home at six thirty sharp, and I'm making him go straight to bed for the rest of this month, to make quite certain of no relapse. And by April, all going well, he should be able to lead a completely normal life again. But I am not going to let him work 12 hours a day ever again!
We got a rather sad letter from Norman, his trial is still dragging on, and he's already been in jail 9 months. Poor Phil, [Phillipa Levy] with the three kids and a full-time job, is having a tough time, and Mary wrote to me to say that old Mrs. Levy is failing fast, and will not last much longer.
The weather is still glorious, but strange to see the grass so brown and dry in the middle of summer. While I was driving to fetch To one evening last week, I suddenly saw what I first thought was a large dog running across the road - imagine my surprise when I passed it and saw it was a leopard! It had come out of the Langata forest, and run right across the tar road - a main road, not a mile away from the Kenya army headquarters.
The wild life is cretainly flourishing - a large black bird about the size of a chicken, with brilliant red wings, hangs around here, and calls its mate with horrible yells all throughout the night. The kids are terrified of it, and even I don't like it all that much!
And that's all. I'm going to make a plum mousse now - To went mad and bought four dozen eggs because they were cheap, so I can be as extravagant as I like with them.
Keep well, all my love,
Eve
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