May 18/16

Dear Mother

No mail in since I last wrote; one is due on Monday I believe, & this is only Thursday so we have some time to wait yet. Still very hot & muggy up here, the little rain we had last week does’nt seem to have done much good. I see the monsoon is expected at Colombo shortly so we ought to be getting it in about a month from now.

I am longing to get the next mail as it should tell me about Nell & her stay at Delaford. She was hugely delighted at the prospect when she last wrote, and was evidently going to enjoy herself thoroughly. I do think it’s bad luck on old Topher not being able to get away on leave; every letter you write seems to say he was on the point of starting but was stopped at the last minute. He certainly ought to come home for a bit now.

I think I’ve got all letters and parcels you’ve sent out, except the Sussex ones, which I’m afraid we must put down as irretrievably lost now. The submarine campaign seems frightfully spasmodic; I suppose they launch a whole lot of new ones periodically which do a lot of damage for a bit, and eventually get rounded up. It must be difficult to get views of them I should think, as I should imagine the chances of coming through on a German submarine are very small.

I believe there is a tennis tournament on here, and various other so called festivities, but I am not moving in society much myself as I have very little time to do so, & not, I must say, much inclination.

There is absolutely nothing of interest to tell you I’m afraid, so this must be just a very dull letter this week. I’m very fit & well but I feel this weather is vy relaxing; Lansdowne never really suits me, & it seems worse this year. Everyone is the same, we all feel slack & unenergetic.

Love to all

from your loving son

Ted

Nell met all of Ted’s sisters on her visit to Delaford, presumably the first of many such visits.

Rosamund, Ben, Dreda, Nell, Spring 1916

Nell, Ruth, Dreda, Ben, Susan the dog,
Spring 1916