Rose Croft, Brentwood - 18thNovember 1972

Dear C, Would love to be able to draw you a picture of the apple fight but I wouldn't do it justice, so as compensation here's a drawin' of ol' slobber-chops pretending to be ill and giving orders like "put another billiard table leg on the fire please Mick" and "Make me a three course dinner and two gallons of tea please Mick" etc. What are camomile flowers for? So! making wine are we? O ho ho! very hoity- toity! You'll be gettin' a subscription to Readers Digest next I expect. You won't get much out of 6 grapefruits surely? Yes, the wind was pretty strong round these parts too! And these parts - in fact every part! It blew all Enid W's washing off the line and scattered it in the bushes and trees - very colourful! Also a window in the greenhouse fell out and all the tomatoes were blown against the wall , making it look like Sweeny Todd's the next day - urgh! It's not Ki-E-Kat to write letters with a fast giraffe. I didn't get the bit about B.R. ? I've done two of dem pig badgers so as to have a choice. I've tried to produce your designs as faithfully as possible lending a added dimension and polychromatic ambivience of the majestic roccoco styling of the former. I went on a little excusion to Ardleigh Green today to keep Bill company in Denny & Hilda's van, on a test run "to see how she stands up to buffeting".! Llib was moanin' all the time about wing mirrors and cupboards being in the way etc. Also there wasa lot of smoke and toxic fumes coming from inside the van, so I stuck my head out of the window to bleathe more freely. Our cat is getting more friendly now ( she alwys preferred Dinah's for some strange reason - perhaps Nidah hasn't got a ping pong ball like me!) Maybe it's my animal magnetism? Iv'e just been down the jolly old dump and got lots of silly things that I immediatley threw away when I got home. Like a compendium of 52 games all printed on one sheet of cardboard, an electric flashing maze game and jigsaw puzzles with half the pieces missing etc. Bill got a heap of junk including a lot of winkle picker shoes and strange garments?! two russian icons ( that he thought were real!) clever facsimiles printed on wood the rubbed over with an oily rag! I got a small tape recorder, but I haven't any batteries so don't know whether it works or not. It was ever so muddy over there, like the battle of the Somme! Ed's just come back from London, now he's gone over there to find a sink. I've just burnt an old boot on my fire. It doesn't arf burn a long time - must be a toasting boot. ha ha! he he! ( Photo of some cannimbals ) with that rather ribald note I shall end my letter. Jolly hockey straps! Hi Hi Camel leg.