Juliet's Kenya Days blog

Letter from Judy to Jill 24 Mar 1975 –

We are hoping to go away for a few days to one of the National Parks – we will be able to stay in chalets which are reasonably cheap as Pickfords still haven’t got around to shipping our stuff, so we haven’t got our tents.

Letter from Graham to Diane 25 May 1975 –

We are exasperated at the delays our sea-going baggage has suffered. Most of my car tools and many other useful things have only just left Liverpool by sea. Pickfords collected them from Wells Rd on 2nd December and there was a long delay while they were being packed. After packing there was a dock dispute to add to the troubles. Friends here have told us it’s a great day when shipped goods finally arrive, rather like Christmas. But I wish Christmas could have been a bit earlier this year.

Letter from Judy to Nanny & Grandad 1 June 1975 –

Pickfords have told us that our goods are on the ‘City of Oxford’ which finally sailed from Liverpool on 21st May, about 6 weeks late. We shan’t believe it until we get the bills of lading, but if true means we shall get our goods sometime in July, hopefully nearer the beginning than the end. The children particularly are looking forward to plenty of books and we shall enjoy the use of our various cooking equipment, tools etc.

Letter from Graham to David 26 June 1975 –

Our belongings sent by sea are due to arrive in Kenya on Saturday 28th June and if there are no hitches with docks or customs we may get our stuff within a week or two.

Letter from Graham to Grandma & Grandad 3 July 1975 –

Our shipment of luggage has arrived in Kenya we believe: we are waiting to hear from a government department which arranges for it to come to Nairobi. We’re fed up with waiting.

Diary entry by Juliet 5 July 1975 –

I can hardly wait for the shipping stuff to arrive because my bike is with it.

Letter from Judy to Nanny & Grandad 8 Aug 1975 –

We have heard that our shipping is now in Nairobi so Graham will go and investigate on Monday. Bureaucracy may be bad in England but it’s much worse here – they are quite capable of keeping our stuff for weeks before notifying us and then charging us a large sum for storage !

Letter from Graham to Grandma & Grandad 14 Aug 1975 –

On Monday we got our large case of belongings which were collected from Bristol on 2nd December ! It was very big so I got it opened at the warehouse and then packed the contents into the minibus. With most of the seats removed it just went in; with children squeezed in we looked really amazing, to judge from people’s stares. Juliet enjoys riding around on the bike and Helen and Fiona both go on the scooter. I have been getting on with some odd jobs now I’ve got my tools and Judy has already made a party dress for Helen using her sewing machine which was in the consignment. Of course we are all delighted to have our books again. They are decorative as well as good to read; Juliet is now reading a Tintin book. Correction: having finished that she is browsing through a big book about animals which you got for her.