At last we are getting a supply of these excellent a/m cards. They are said to be quite the quickest.

                        You will not be guilty, your unique niceness will save you. But I will not have people laugh at donkeys. Here they belong & like all people with large ears, they are kind, intelligent & worthy. They are so small, but they try so hard & they are dignified, not comic. Large men sit astride them & gay little carts are pulled by them.

                        A very gay afternoon. We found a lido, a genuine Med. Lido, opened up for officers. We all went & played like kids in the warm clear sea or a sandy beach. Diving, leap frog, Horse & jockey fighting, ducking & all. Then lay in the sand & drank lemonade & ate ice cream & iced cakes. A rare holiday afternoon. Quite a crowd there, the Guards prominent.

                        I’ve been taking “vigourous action” (my motto,) to get our mail, it’s strayed a little. No letters for weeks, the last of yours was the 13 July ! But in a few days well get it I feel and I expect a real pile of it. I hope so.

                        Eucalyptus trees & Cyprus trees are very beautiful. In the morning I hang my mirror (the lovely one you gave me) on a baby Eucalyptus & shave there. We have lovely pastel mornings & evenings. So often I want to exclaim about things to you.

                        I just can’t imagine your new life, any more than you could have imagined my army life if you hadn’t seen me & my friends. Richard John ! A name to a dream person. How avidly I drink in your descriptions. My son, it’s almost beyond imagination. The mind boggles.

                        No changes yet, we are still altogether. All is quiet temporarily now the island is well & truly ours.

                        The parcel failed to go the second time, it was 6 lb ! So now I’ll have to take out the lemons & nuts & try again. It’s such a stupid parcel anyhow. Maybe I’ll cancel the idea altogether & buy you something later on. Shops here have only trash in them. One day I’ll find some trifle which is right for you & me – & Dickie. British shops are so much better. Quality is lacking here, in all things. These foreigners  ! Only the church seems to be rich.

                        Dear one, do you miss me very much ? Does Dickie help to fill the gaps & to alleviate the recurrent loneliness ?

                        Send me Arthur Yarnold’s address will you please. I’ll tell him tactfully that I’m on the way to rescue him. We have P.O.W. working for us. Funny comic poor things, & so happy to be out of the War. That’s the difference.

                        Great Alne, you, Dickie, your Mother, Candy, Uncle Jack, dear familiar people – except one distinguished exception. I do love you so. Time will be ours.

                        God bless you, & my son. Greetings to everyone.