Juliet's Kenya Days blog

Letter from Juliet to Grandma & Grandad 31 Aug 1976 –

As you probably know we had a good flight and have arrived safely. We landed at Rome where lots of people got on. We left Heathrow late but landed in Nairobi a little bit early ! After about an hour of flying they brought around supper which was a proper meal. None of us had any. Mummy & Daddy were pleased with everything especially Mummy’s tank-top – she says she will write to you soon thanking you. If Uncle David rings you up tell him Daddy was very pleased with the stylus and tape. Mummy says that Fiona’s shoes (the 75p pair) are very good and is pleased with the things we got at the toy sale (Dad especially likes the Pick-Up-Monkeys game). Mummy had tidied up our bedrooms for us and it was lovely unpacking except that our room got messy again and still is ! Thank you so much for a lovely holiday.

Letter from Helen to Nanny & Grandad 31 Aug 1976 –

We arrived safely at Nairobi airport. It seemed so small up to Heathrow airport. By the way the grass is as brown as it is in England. Juliet was sick just before we arrived here. We found a lady which took us through the customs here and met Mummy & Daddy at the other end. When we were at Grandma’s house we went to our friends Debbie & Tracey’s and went swimming at Jubilee Baths. On the way there we went past our house (199 Wells Rd in Bristol) and stopped outside. Me and Juliet popped across to a shop to get something and the man recognised us ! I didn’t recognise him.

Letter from Juliet to Nicky, Robert and Kerry 4 Sept 1976 –

Thank you all of you including Auntie Jo and Uncle John for our lovely holiday and letting us sleep in your rooms. We have put our pictures drawn by Kerry up in our bedrooms where they look very nice. We had a nice time on the aeroplane except I was sick. We landed in Rome but we could not see anything as it was night.

Letter from Graham to Grandma & Grandad 4 Sept 1976 –

The children were delighted with your singing of Beatles songs – I wish I had heard it. Fiona had a lovely time and told us how David and Sydney played games as if they were ‘big boys’. Don’t worry about her bouts of tears – she has them quite often but I think it’s just a passing phase. It seems to release her feelings and set her up again which is nicer for her than spending hours in an unhappy mood. We are settling back into our old ways quickly. Fiona goes to bed at her normal time and all three girls have avoided the tiredness which we had when we first came here. This evening Judy and I have been nibbling at the After Eights you sent – a lovely treat. After polishing off the Black Magic too quickly we are making the others last. All the shopping you did was very successful. My records sound better with the new needle and Juliet’s locket and Helen’s clock are excellent buys. Fiona’s pictures were put up near to her bed at the first opportunity, where she can see them easily. I think the holiday was almost perfect: as good as we could hope for in all aspects and better than we dared to expect. Judy and I had an excellent rest but noticed a slight lack of ‘something’. Knowing the children were in good hands made it alright though. I shall try to write soon to everyone who helped give the children such a marvellous holiday because I really am grateful. I expect the children will remember it always.

Letter from Judy to Jo 5 Sept 1976 –

First of all thank you very much for all your efforts to give the girls such a good holiday – they obviously really enjoyed it. Juliet tells me the meat arrived safely and I hope all the presents were suitable.

We were pleased with all the shopping you did for the children and us. The girls are very pleased with all their new clothes and shoes all of which we thought highly suitable. I expect Juliet’s shoes will last the rest of our time here if she keeps them just for school and her feet don’t suddenly grow – I think they are more strongly made than the local Bata shoes – our only other alternative. The girls had a very easy journey back with the plane arriving a little early as they didn’t stop at Entebbe as scheduled. We were only just in time to see the plane land and then couldn’t see the children at all – however the airline girl who met them brought Fiona and Helen straight through to us and then went back to wrestle with the luggage – our cases being almost the last off the plane of course. They didn’t open them anyway so Juliet didn’t have to explain why she had 20 pastry brushes ! (the explanation for these is that we’d been asked by our friend & neighbour Pam Kinshott to bring some back for her Home Economics teaching!). We have been having a fairly quiet time since the girls returned – if you can call it quiet with the house filled with hordes of kids all day – one wonders how they all survived while the girls were away !

Letter from Graham to David 9 Sept 1976 –

The girls had a marvellous holiday by the sound of it. They were highly amused by the tricks you and the family got up to. I was of course very pleased with the tape you bought. Also the needle is excellent – I noticed the difference at once.

Letter from Graham to Diane and Sydney 9 Sept 1976 –

Many thanks for the way you looked after the girls and entertained them. One of the first things they told us about was the lovely tea you gave them.

Letter from Judy to Caroline and Martin 20 Sept 1976 –

The children were sorry not to see you in England. Their holiday was a great success and enjoyed by all and they didn’t return moping and grizzling as we’d half expected. They complained of the crowdedness of the UK but thoroughly enjoyed buying all kinds of consumer junk and came back loaded with new things !

Letter from Judy to Grandma & Grandad 11 Oct 1976 –

Fiona seems to have grown up a lot since her visit to England and we have far fewer ‘scenes’ and crying fits. She often talks of you all and the things you did so I think that the visit really did her good even though she found it demanding at the time. She is full of energy from morning to night whereas six months ago she got very weary by the time she got home from school at 1:15pm. Of course she will be seven in the New Year.