25th April 65

The Hongkong and Shanghai BCorpn
Central PO Box 227
Osaka
Japan

Dear Mum, Dad and Alan,

The postal services have been slow recently owing to go slows and strikes so your letter to me has probably got held up.  Like you over Easter we moved  back into a cold spell but no snow.  The famous Cherry Blossom was delayed but once it did come out lived up to its promise.  Yesterday we went for a walk to see the last of it and with the ground covered in petals it was quit a blossom covered scene.

The week previous to Easter saw us on the aircraft carrier at a cocktail party as a guest of the Admiral and about 200 of his officers.  We also went to the Consul's cocktail party to meet a crowd of them.  And on Saturday had 3 POs to the house for lunch and tea.  The children enjoyed the visit and I hope the POs did, anyway they were very pleasant and afterwards when taken back to the ship took the driver and me up to the top to see the aircraft.

On Easter Sunday we went to Awaji island off Kobe by ferry.  It poured with rain all day but we pressed on with difficult conditions on mud and dirt roads to the end of the island/  This all but joins the jut of land and the Inland Sea swirls through here forming whirlpools and rapids.  We barely had time for lunch before returning on the two hour drive to catch the ferry back.  It was a long day for very little but that is usual here.  Travel is difficult, poor roads, crowds and not too much to see when one gets there.

However, there are good spots and during the week, the children are on holiday, Margo took them to Nara where there is a deer park and many temples, plus the largist Buddha in the world (or one of them).  Again it was a long journey but not yet crowded at the other end, and they had a good time.

The sun came out today and we played tennis for the first time on our court.  A little stiff afterwards but good fun.  The garden is in blossom with a dark blue flower on a mountain bush, pansies, tulips and daffodiles are out and the grass is beginning to turn green.   It is a very attractive garden but impossible to photograph because it is on a hill.  I shall have to take it in bits.

Trust all is well with you and warmer weather is on the way.  Love from us all

Peter.