Rose Croft, Brentwood, Essex - Tuesday May 23rd 1972

Dear C&R, Thankyo' for the fine letter and photo's. I wish mine were half as interestin' - it's like getting a letter from Armand and Michaela Denis ( old TV favourites!) The funny lookin' geezer on the back of the envelope does look strangely firmiliar, and an ancester of mine could well have posed for that stained glass! Mmmm! paw paws sound delicious, I wish they grew over here, and so quickly! But you must have patience waiting for that pineapple to grow! Thom Gunn is not really my cup of tea as you rightly guess, but i understand the feelings he writes about, though not close to my heart. Billykins, Lynn and Dinah have gone to the big smelly city today to buy some cloth I think. Bill is having a tutorial at the Slade, his show is in three weeks and his whiskers bristle in expectation of it! I'm doing a 4'x4' painting of Rose Croft at the moment as I get fed up with doing little things. I'm brightening up the whole place of course, a nice red roof and lovely clear blue sky, no old bicycles and timber outside either! Lots of lovely flowers growing! LATER THAT EVENING - I've just been for a walk to the local rubbish tip, a favourite haunt of us "Rose Croftians" to see if anything interesting has been tossed away. There were lots of old wreckords, most smashed by the bulldozer, and some office equipment including a couple of typewriters. But I contented myself with a few dirty books ( No , not that sort!) One is about insects, another is W.H.Davies' "Diary Of A Supertramp" and best of all is a big thick "Alice's Adventures In Wonderland" with lovely colour plates. They don't ssmell very nice after being with the potato peelings and cabbage stalks but who cares! English birds of course are shy compared to their African cousins and most would dream of wearing two contrasting colours let alone fancy bits, frills and what-have-you's stuck on everywhere. But whta beautiful songs they sing, especially at this time of year, notes the very essence of the rainbow. There was a programme on the radio the other day about African music but I missed it! Fancy having to be 'dragged' to the "Lake of A Million Flamingos" ! I don't believe it. It's just starting to rain now and the birdies stop singing for a while to get soap and a flannel. Does it rain there at all? All at once? May your paw-paws be plentiful and your carrots in abundance! Love from Michael.