France
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France |
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 Mt. St. Marys, Greenmeadows. 3-3-68. Dear France, I was very pleased to hear from you. A “Happy Birthday” for Thursday! Sue & Kitch have just left so they will be able to tell you all about the place. It is very hot here & everything has dried up. Usually there is no wind either which makes everything much hotter. To make matters worse, we wear our soutanes & collars most of the time & can see the sea from the classroom so that makes everything hotter still. Tomorrow (Monday) we are going on what is called a Conge (I think it is French for picnic or something). We leave straight after breakfast, go for about 2 hrs. walk & then have lunch & tea on the bank of a river somewhere & then walk home. I am quite looking forward to it because I don’t know what to expect. The Archbishop is here at the moment. This morning, at ½ past 6, we began a 1 ½ hrs. ceremony in which some of the older students were made Deacons. They will be made Priests in July. We spent the whole of last Wednesday picking (and eating) grapes. It was quite good fun, but it was very hot. By lunch time we were so sick of grapes we couldn’t eat another one, so we got more grapes picked in the afternoon. Towards the end of the day I got a cooler job of washing out the boxes into which the grapes were picked. It was good because water kept splashing everywhere & it was cool. They have got some good baths here, only a little bit bigger than Bothamley’s. They are very much deeper though, and you can’t stand up anywhere in them without sinking below your head. It is quite funny because when you are out in the middle someone cracks a joke & you laugh so much you can’t swim & just about drown! However, there is nothing to fear because a lot of the students have Life Saving Medals & Certificates. I think that we will be grape picking all next week. Sue said she thinks they have found your wig. Did they catch the burglars? Did you use the photo to identify the wig? I saw Fr. Seamus O’Dowd & Fr. Hannabry here last week. Could you tell Tony that Fr. O’Dowd said that there is a lot of land up at Wairoa but he will find out a lot more information about it & write to Tony. Apparently Tony must have asked Father to enquire about it. Could you please ask Mum & Dad if they mind if I don’t write this week. I don’t know where all the time goes. I will write an extra long letter next time. Also, thank Helen & Rick for their letter & say that I hope to get around to answering it soon. Was Leo home today? “Happy Birthday!” Love from Bruce |
