Dear Reg,
Hilary tells me that there is a post on your Facebook page, which I do not access, still preferring the old fashioned web site, about the BBC Winter 1963 programme. I remember it very well as we were living in Hassocks, just north of Brighton, at the time. The journey from London Bridge would normally take 45 minutes for the 45-mile trip but during that winter it could take anything up to 3 hours, frozen points being the main problem. Many trains did not run which meant that those that did were terribly overcrowded, with no heating and standing all the way. We had no mobile phones in those days meaning that the evening dinner would nearly always be a warmed-up affair. Despite all that, I always considered everything very worthwhile and I have never found a more pleasant place to live than Sussex, despite the delights of Linlithgow and Caerphilly. But Hilary always advises against any wish to return there.
My spirits have incidentally been considerably lifted since the news from the Welsh Government yesterday that travel from England into Wales can now take place again after its being forbidden since early August. Hilary and Colin will accordingly be visiting me on Sunday for the first time in 4 months and the champagne will be on ice ready for the cork to be popped.
Very best wishes to you and all Oldies for a very happy Christmas and a normal New Year.
Les
Hello Les, Thank you for your heartwarming message. A rare shaft of light among the gloom!
The HMSOldies Facebook page is useful to keep people in touch these days, especially among those whose access is solely via mobile telephones.
Weather in Norwich is wet and cold today (the first minimal flurries of snow as I write) so your reminiscence of 1963 rail journeys is particularly poignant. And I can identify with your opinion of Sussex. Spent some good holidays in my Aunt’s Bracklesham Bay house in the 1950s. Leon de Brunner and Mike Gigg are among those who still live in the County.
Excellent to hear that your family will be visiting on Sunday. Champagne glasses definitely raised – and among some others for the 99th anniversary of the creation of the Irish Free State!
All the very best to you all. And I particularly like the thought of a Normal New Year.
Reg