6th May 1963

The Hongkong and Shanghai BC
Hong Kong

Dear Mum, Dad and Alan,

Many thanks for the cheque Dad - very good of you.  I shall be getting the case in due course.  Your stay in Bournemouth was a good change for you both - you mention that is is still cool.  We are now in the eighties without rain and face further restrictions in the water supply.  Henry's Louise appears to be very comfortable and they do not mind popping up and down to Wolverhampton every day or so!

We are still pottering on in the same old way, with nothing specially interesting cropping up.  Expat things will free wheel a little now until the Chief Inspector returns from leave in June.  It is possible that I will then do an inspection somewhere, but I do not know.  In fact the odd thing about this place is that one lacks information in much the same way as one does away in a branch.

Saw "Mutiny on the Bounty" last night and enjoyed a lot of it, though it was very long and funny in parts where it wasn't supposed to be.

A baby kitten called Phoebe has been bought home by Elisabeth from the children's home, on the pretext that it is a birthday present for me.  Luckily it adores children as all four pull it about endlessly and it is in constant demand.  I believe we are getting a dog next month.

We have joined the Stanley Club which consists of a substantial club house and clean and quiet beach in the surrounds of Stanley Prison.  It started and is run by the Prison staff and is the only private and well kept beach here.  We have purchased a beach umbrella and on Sunday went down for the first time.  It was great.  The water very clean and as good as in Borneo - parking space for the car and other children for ours to play with.  There are several social events arranged during the month which we shall enjoy, but the main requirement was the beach for the children under reasonable condidtions as I had been warned that the others eventually become crowded, noisy and dirty once the hot weather was underway.

So with our first six months completed in residence here we are gradually accepting the odditys of the place.  There is so much of it however, that it will be a long time before we can say that we know it.

Cheerio for now and once again thank you very much for my present.

Love from us all,
Peter.