27th JUNE 1970

27/06/70

Dear Mum and Dad

I don’t think I have had a letter from you yet but I did have a nice long letter from Pauline which I must reply to.

I hope Dad’s quite recovered- strong in eye and tooth again! Tony has a cold at present but appears to be getting better.

We had a good time last weekend driving back from Holland. It is much easier to travel long distances in the new VW and we are very pleased with it. It is a pity we did not have it when you were with us as it is much roomier than the Daf.

We stopped in Bonn on the way home. We were quite bemused by all the shops full of good things. We made a pig of ourselves with strawberries and cherries and I bought a brand new handbag in bright yellow. We also looked at tents which are quite cheap compared with here however they did not have the smaller ones in stock. There are also very nice camp beds, gaz stoves etc and so we are going on a spending spree this weekend coming. We are going to Nuremburg tomorrow to get both cars services so we will have all day Friday and Saturday morning to go shopping. Tony has got his heart fixed on one of those inflatable speed boats but I am not sure the money would stretch so far. We must also look for a suitable birthday present for D and a wedding present for A and V.

Work goes on as usual. I am going to Brno on Monday and Tuesday next week. It will be good to see all my friends again. We went for a walk last night on the slope opposite the flat and picked a whole bunch of wild flowers; meadow sweet, harebells scabious, several forms of campion, dog roses, yarrow, vetch and chickory. I have arranged them with Tony’s wood from Slapy which has dried out to a lovely silver grey colour.

Not much more has happened. We had a letter from Mrs F thanking you for your post card as if you might still be here!

I had better close now. Love to all at home

Gillian and Tony

When we went to Czechoslovakia it was to satisfy our desire to find out what other countries were like to live in. We did not realise how well off we would be! We did not pay tax in the UK or Czechoslovakia. Tax rates were very high in the UK at that time. Secondly we were paid expenses for many things unimaginable today. Our rent and utility bills were paid and our travelling expenses plus meal allowances if we travelled to another town or country. We were able to buy our cars tax free at Schiphol airport. I remember the DAF 44 cost £500 and the VW ’Variant’ estate car around £800. We used our savings from selling our flat plus the money we had accumulated in the first 7 months working overseas. Living abroad certainly gave our income a big boost in these early years of our marriage. Plus we had the ability to travel round Europe and behind the iron curtain, to stay in interesting places on our way to and from England and take holidays in Czechoslovakia and on the Mediterranean. It was a very enriching period of our lives and gave us a different perspective on life in the UK. By the time we returned to the UK we were less materialistic, able to enjoy & savour more basic entertainments and pastimes, & much more aware that a wide variety of food choices in the shops was neither necessary nor to be found in a good many countries that are today part of the EU.