Work in progress
Previous | Contents | Next § We had a swim in the Ceylon Swimming Club bath yesterday and it was beautiful. The water was lukewarm, the baths surrounded by beautiful lawns and shaded places where you can sit and be served with anything you require. The white people don’t seem to work here. The black fellows…
Previous | Contents | Next Ten days later Cliff was back in Camp again. “My dear Dorothy,” he wrote. “Hello my dear, how are you now? To be frank with you, I’m as cheerful as a funeral. I miss you terribly, sweetheart. “Thank God that we can at least write to each other. “We had a…
Previous | Contents | Next Like his stories of the Depression, the letters paint a picture of what already seems a distant time — of experiences we haven’t shared and values we’ve set aside. Or so it seems to me. Even distances aren’t the same. Fifty miles was a barrier, not an hour’s drive. §…
Previous | Contents | Next In September 1939 Hitler invaded Poland. According to Cliff’s diary, by the time he moved to Paparoa in March 1940 6,000 New Zealand men had enlisted for service overseas and wartime rationing had begun. Although he was still working for the Post Office and Telegraph Department, it was at the…
Previous | Contents | Next In early 1936 Cliff started attending Bible classes, mainly because some of his friends were. Working on farms had meant few opportunities for socialising, and there were boys and girls in Bible class. The fact they were getting home from church as late as 11pm suggests that they were having…
Previous | Contents | Next After Cliff was fired by the miserable WH on January 7th 1936 he moved back home to his parents and started his second stint at the mine. Once again this is partly in his words, partly in mine from his notes. ~ Ian Cliff was still keeping up his diary.…