Undated but probably end of March 1959

H. & S.B.C. Jesselton

Dear Mum, Dad and Alan

Very many thanks for your letter, am glad you are pleased with all your grand-daughters, they do seem to be quite a bunch at the moment. I brought Margo and Susan home on Thursday, both in good order. Margo seems very well and Susan is behaving herself - sleeping and eating better I think, than the other two did. Margo is not attempting to fee Susan herself and this makes life a lot easier. The baby gets the right quantity of food at the right time without complications. The birth was without instruments, but was a sideways one - and two stitches so it was not very easy. However, the rest in hospital did a lot of good and the initial recovery & contraction all in good order. And Margo looks very well in herself.

Ian certainly gets on with things - it certainly is an honour to be Master - and wise of Henry to make the trip - I sympathise with the lumbago its a rotten thing to have. Thanks Dad, for your note - expect you are busy in the garden just now and hope the spring and summer are worth while - think you are due for a hot one. Am including a few photos which I haven't enlarged yet but expect they will come up under a magnifying glass. Am pleased with the childrens'. Managed the full shot of the house, but from a distance of 1/4 mile being the nearest convenient point. The small building to the right is the garage and the end of our drive which comes in from the road somewhere out of the picture to the left. It does look a bit jungly doesn't it? We had a snake quite close to us and of course plenty of monkeys. But the thing that worries us is a harmless flying beetle about the size of a walnut which crashes against the screens and emits a screetching buzz. A lizard fell on Margo last night and fell down the back of her dress but was got rid of without difficulty. Otherwise things are ordinary but we could do with some rain. This Easter weekend we have had four days holiday and two games of golf have left me a little sunburnt. Thursday night I went to a Chinese wedding dinner and ate all the usual good things then spent Friday in a slow recovery.

Am taking some pictures of Susan and will send them shortly - we think she will look like Margo but at the moment seems different from the other two so our threesome will be quite a mixture.

Cheerio and love from us all,

Peter.