1224/5 Shipworking Secs. R.E. C.M.F.
No. 225
Dearest Heart:
Posties gone weather conscious & has been coy. We’re all letterless but a whole packet will come tomorrow perhaps. All goes well here. Pen because I’m being sociable & Barry is writing in front of the fire & I’m keeping him company. Oh change anyhow I wrote last on Saturday. On Sunday Allan & I went out to Cerignola in the car & had a picnic in the sunshine. He’s brilliant at sandwiches & we drank bottled beer. Very nice. We talked of you & Ruth & much of Peter, bless the boy. Then we called on Francesco’s people. Wild excitement. They begged us to eat with them but I couldn’t face their bread and cheese. However we nibbled for the sake of courtesy. They send love to Francesco & are well. I saw & picked up Francesco’s brothers little son, aged 18 months. Dickie’s height I suppose. It was interesting. Tell F. “Il Capitano Daniell ha visitato le sui parenti. Stano bene e erano molto contenti a recevere la photographica e le notizie. Il capitano ha visto il bambino del suo fratello, uno bambino buono e ed eleganzo. Il capitano ha mangiuto in casa e ha bevuto del buono vino. Il Capitano se dispiace che non era possible a visitare la sua famiglia l’anno scorso perchè il era stato lontana di Cerignola, a Livorno”.
You pronounce every letter, c is soft & no letter missed out. Try it on Francesco. (=Franchesco) . After our visit, & tremendous send off, we toured all day & I dined with Cliff and Allan at their Mess. A jolly sunny day.
Yesterday I visited Lanave with little Evans who commissioned a picture of his wife, from many photographs. Lanave has framed your Dickie picture charmingly, in oak to match the other. It’s sweet. He’s pressed it & folded it at the edges & mounted it. A fine possession. As Taffy says, I’m one in a thousand lucky to have such a charming baby so sweetly painted by a brilliant wife. Lanave is still waiting for the inspiration on Dickie’s miniature. He gave me a print of San Nicola, which is 120 years old & he says is rare & valuable. Odd man. I’ll send it home. I don’t understand prints. You do I expect.
It seems to me a good idea to write a serious Geographical article on Old Bari. No one knows of Bari, it is always Venice or Naples or Perugia. But Bari Vecchio is a unique example of a fully preserved medieval city. I have books on its history for fact & can take a photographer round & get some good photos. It’s full of charm and smells. Crowded narrow streets & quaint alleys & steps. And full of rare churches. Might work. I’ll write to Ivy about it. Agree? I think I could make something of it.
I’ve been refreshing my memory by rereading your letters, which are all filed in order. The ones of the four days of Dickie are fascinating, & there are the Salerno anxiety ones – you weren’t the only anxious one! And lots of dear thumb nail sketches & little jokes, & playful ideas & much of the natural poetry of our love. At Lanave’s yesterday I reexamined the polyphotos of R.J.S.D. He is an attractive looking young gentleman. Bless us. And you say he shows no tendency to be allergic to the idea of a Father. Good. I do look forward to meeting him. Living will be so very rich. God knows it was rich enough before with you. Now we shall be millionaires of love.
Please tell Uncle Jack I am trying to find out where No 5 Gen Hospital is. It doesn’t seem to be very near here. But it may be tucked away somewhere. I’ll hunt it out.
The Col’s coming up tomorrow to see me give my troops an ABCA on the British Empire. Preaching the Gospel with a vengeance. What would De Gaulle say if he knew.
I am touched time & time again at the sheer friendliness of Johnny Feaver & Ron Channon, my colleagues. They seem to take pains to do things to please me, & follow ideas with more than loyalty. Really it’s astonishing. And we have jests of our own & a pride in No 2. Coy. Which is at all times heartening. I am a fortunatus in my colleagues, here & heretofore.
Just been looking at your two pictures of R.J.S.D. over my bed. Lanave’s framing does credit even to them. Light wood moulded frames. You’ll love them. And I’ll love just seeing you & being with you. Picking up the rather plain & dull 18 months old bambino on Sunday set my thoughts & my emotions racing. It wells.
All my love, my love. Ever David XXX