12th January 1961
January 12th 1961
Thursday
My dearest Maureen,
Thanks for your wonderful parting gift, I shall wear it always. When you gave it to me, words just didn’t seem to come and I felt near to tears so I had to rush off to save making a fool of myself.
When I left you I returned home and after the party was over, packed my case and finally getting my head down at 2 am. In spite of being dead beat I still found it difficult to sleep.
On Tuesday morning I went to West London Air Terminal where I caught the bus to London airport. After the usual formalities we boarded the Comet which was to take me away from dear old England. We took off at 11.30 and were soon high above the clouds into the warm sunshine. Two hours later we landed in Rome after flying over the Swiss Alps and Lake Geneva, which was most impressive to see, to say the least. At Rome we stopped for about 30 minutes, just long enough to buy a couple of postcards but long enough to say I was in Italy in ‘61.
It was dark when we arrived over Athens. The city lights were shining like jewels. It was just fascinating. We stayed in Athens for about an hour and then boarded a Viscount for Nicosia. The city lights at Nicosia were also impressive but not nearly as good as the beautiful city of Athens. We landed at 9.30 local time, which is 7.30 GMT and after going through customs caught a taxi and arrived in Akrotiri just before midnight. I didn’t feel so good about it though.
Will say goodnight now Maureen as it is getting pretty late and I don’t feel very bright. Goodnight, darling. I miss you so much and love you more than words can say. All my love is yours forever.
Alan
