Philip Larkin
Page 50
Of the three days’ cricket, two stopped short at 3 p.m. – rain stopped play. This was disappointing. Still, what we did see was all right. It was warm enough, anyway, despite the absence of sun.
It was very nice to have your letter as usual here on Friday. I’ve never looked closely at St Peter’s – I suppose the fête was in the vicarage garden? It isn’t very leafy down there, is it, not like the Parish Church. As regards my poems, Reference Back (in TWW) recalls an incident at York Rd many years ago, but Love Songs hasn’t any connection with you, except that I suppose I remembered some of your songs.3 The actor asked if I was writing much, and I said I thought I’d said my say. Lady Elizabeth overheard this & snapped ‘Don’t be tiresome.’
I am undecided about next weekend, i.e. this weekend: in a way I should like to visit you as I haven’t been for some time; also Monica is seeing a specialist on Friday about her hand, & she might like someone to talk to about it. I suppose I’ll have to say I’ll ring up, either Monday or Tuesday! I note all you say about the ‘lonely’ week.4 I don’t know what to think. I shouldn’t want to make things harder for you.
Well, this creature is becoming more shaky, & a long day lies ahead of it – a long hot day, I fancy. I’ll be in touch with you again soon, & in the meantime send very much love as always – dear old creature!
Philip
1 Lady-in-waiting to Princess Margaret, and Betjeman’s lover and companion following the rift with his wife Penelope on her conversion to Catholicism.
2 Larkin had persuaded the Arts Council committee administering a bequest by the philanthropist Joseph Compton to set up a fellowship, installing a writer in Hull University for a year. Betjeman was his first choice for this Compton Fellowship.
3 In a letter of 19 June Eva mentioned that the niece of a friend of hers was a ‘great admirer’ of Philip’s poems and had ‘said something about a poem about me. Have you written another one besides “That’s a pretty one I heard you call” and oh, I have just remembered “Love Songs in Age”, no doubt that is the one she means.’
4 Eva had written on 19 June: ‘Your letters were very welcome indeed as I have been alone most of the days as well as the nights […] I really don’t know what to say about your next visit to me, Creature. It certainly would be nice to have you in my “lonely” week, except that you might not find things so well kept or comfortable this assuming that Mrs. Slater [the cleaner] doesn’t come again.’
24 September 1967
Haydon Bridge.
My very dear old creature,
Well, I drove up here on Friday afternoon, a dark and rainy one, taking the main road way by West Auckland and Corbridge instead of coming over the dales. I got in about 5, just as all the shops shut! However, I registered at my hotel, took a walk round the town, then drove over to H. Bridge at just six o’clock. M. had been ready since 5, so I could have come earlier. Usually she’s having a bath when I arrive.
Yesterday – Saturday – was fairly fine – very fine, really, in an autumnal sort of way – and we went to Bellingham Show after lunch. This was a big agricultural show in a village about 20 miles to the north. It was large & well-attended. I don’t know what they’d done in the morning, but various horse events were taking place in the afternoon, and also wrestling – this is a special local brand called Cumberland and Westmoreland Wrestling, in wch the combatants hug each other like bears & try to throw each other over. There was a big tent full of show dogs – every possible breed, almost: plenty of Zimbas!1 – and I found them rather noisy & tiresome. Then there was a wonderful ‘horticultural’ tent – flowers & vegetables – these were beautifully got up, the vegetables scrubbed clean & arranged exquisitely: they make a speciality of leeks round here, the short & fat pot leeks, & the long & thin blanch leeks. Beautiful carrots, too, and parsnips, & someone had even got a prize for parsley! We did wish you had been there & could see it all. There was another big tent of cakes, jams, home-made wines (I thought of Edie), bread, scones, salads, honey, & all sorts of knitting, sewing, & walking sticks, these with horn handles, another local speciality. At the end of the day there was more horse jumping, but it began to get cold – I was terribly cold as to the feet – so we drove home, rather tired but well satisfied with a novel experience. It’s nice to think that people are still doing these homely things. As a matter of fact, I was quite hungry by about 4.30 & would dearly have liked to annex one or two exhibits – sausage rolls in particular – but they were thoughtfully protected by wire netting like so many post office counters.
I’m afraid I have gone on about this rather a lot. A good thing you managed to get rid of your cases – I know they were bothering you. Fancy Pop having all his teeth out before he was 30!2 I cling to mine desperately, though I think my dentist thinks I am robbing the country. I bought some special toothpaste in Hexham, called Emoform, 4/- a tube, but I haven’t used it yet. It’s supposed to be good for bad teeth. My gum is all right now.
Monica says she fell over an uneven piece of pavement, but her knee is healing – it was the left knee, & really badly grazed. She sends her love. She is packing up now: after lunch we set off for Hull, & I expect I shall ring up when we have got in. There seems a lot of food to go. I’m not sure whether we are taking a cold duck! I hope we all arrive safely.
I’m glad Mrs Slater has succeeded in adjusting the clock. I think it’s a case of fools rushing in where angels fear to tread! Anyway, dearest love to you, dear old creature,
Philip
1 Zimba was a large boisterous dog belonging to the Richards family who lived next door to Eva.
2 On 19 September Eva had written: ‘Daddy had all his teeth out (before we were married) his Mother used to mince all his food (meat etc). I was staying at Tamworth Street at that time. He took his holiday then, which was a sensible thing to do.’
1 October 1967
32 Pearson Park, Hull
My very dear old creature,
October! In the university world, the beginning of a new year. Today was a very bright morning, but it has grown rather cloudier now; it also seems very windy. I have hauled all the clothes off the bed, a way of making me make it – new sheets are due. […]
I rang up last night about 8.45 but you weren’t in: never mind. I hope it wasn’t the weather annoying you again. Did you like the photographs? I showed them to my photographer & he said they had been printed wrong: at least, 4, 5 & 6 had been over-printed, too yellow. 7 shows what the proper colours ought to be. I thought I might get myself an enlargement of 6. Is there any one you like, or Kitty wd like? Perhaps you think they’re awful! I like 6 very much though: it shows you as the dear old creature you are.1
I smiled at the American lady the Hewetts met.2 Surely they have peas and beans in America? It’s only you & Monica who give me fresh food. Monica said that when she got to Leicester beans were 1/6d a lb. whereas they are only 10d here! She thinks things are very cheap in Hull, when you can get them. It’s true, it is a cheap place – cheap & rather nasty.
I am just going to get myself a Guinness. Got it. Almost like home! I am wondering if I can drink Guinness for a bit instead of gin: gin is so expensive & no one pretends it is “good for you”. Perhaps G. wd be more fattening though: I’m still a pound or so over 14st. How wonderful you are, slim as a rake, keeping on working! Still, you could do with a bit more flesh. Rest every day after lunch.
The telephone rang mysteriously after 10 this morning: I was in the bath, & didn’t go, A slightly crazy woman called Helen Spalding is pursuing me, luckily from Hampshire. I met her just before I had that blackout & she convinced herself that I was in love with her & that she was with me. After much trouble I got rid of her. Now she is starting again: letters & parcels arrive daily. I send them back unopened. I live in terror of her arriving unexpectedly. Oh dear.
Dear creature, I love you very much & look forward to seeing you again.
Philip.
1 Seven numbered photographs are enclosed. On 3 October Eva r
eplied. ‘I showed Kitty the photographs and we discussed them, and decided, like you, that no. 6 was the nicest and no. 7 good and just like me. If she may have one she would prefer one of no. 6. Do you want me to return them? If so I would like one of No. 6 also to keep. Kitty remarked that you had a very good camera.’ Nos. 6 and 7 are reproduced on Plate 15.
2 On 25 September Eva related that Kitty and Walter, on a theatre trip to London, had ‘got chatting’ over dinner ‘to an American lady from near New York. She was in raptures with “our country” and said how beautiful were the green fields and what a lot of flowers there were. Nothing like that in America! […] She also liked the food and said “O, I must have some of your peas before I leave, I’ve had beans.”’
5 October 1967
32 Pearson Park, Hull
My very dear old creature,
How glad I am your arm is better! What a difference it will make to you! I howled with laughter about you & the salmon – I read your letter walking along to the garages under the yellowing trees. I thought your letter was so interesting. I’m sure the salmon wd have been all right.1
I rang up Mr Hooper at Leicester today, & left a message asking him to ‘investigate the delay’ about the fire. Hope it will do some good.
Friday There’s a bit about me [in the DT] this morning, in a report on the Cheltenham Festival on page? of The Daily Telegraph – the arts page.2
A fine day here today.
Much love, dear old creature.
Philip
1 On 3 October Eva had written: ‘I have decided not to keep any tinned goods in stock, at least not for long. I had two tins of salmon, one a small one which had been in stock for almost twelve months, the other a larger tin, dated 1964. I opened the small tin on Sunday and really wondered whether it would be good. Then I looked up what to do in the Medical book if one were laid low with food poisoning and after that took it out and buried it in the garden! What shall I do with the larger tin, now. Kitty suggested I should throw it in the dustbin unopened! or ask Mrs. Slater if she could cope with it.’
2 A press cutting is inserted: ‘Cheltenham Festival Introspective Poets Get Few Listeners’ by Sean Day-Lewis, Arts Reporter.
28 October 1967
32 Pearson Park, Hull
My very dear old creature,
I am beginning this at 10.30 p.m., in a very hot room, having just put the car away. I went out to see the Hartleys this afternoon, and found them in not too good spirits – Jean depressed about her economics,1 and George having been run into in the car, & nabbed by the police for a parking offence (parking without lights!). As usual they gave me tea, or rather coffee, plus a history of English literature that says I am ‘less formidably intellectual’ than Auden. Produced in Finland. George was having a struggle with the gas board, to make them come & take away old fittings!
I am glad NCB2 & Brooks are showing some interest in your fire. Don’t pay any bill! I can’t believe the change in fuel will do any good, but of course I hope it will. Perhaps in the end a Parkray expert will come & see what’s wrong. Like you, I think the chimney is at fault.3
Of course, I sympathise over the wretched Richards & their inconsiderate behaviour. As soon as I saw they were tacitly extending their ground to the entry gate I was cross, & I think I should have contested it. Let them keep behind their own gate. Let them mend that. Damned backstreet swindlers.4 […]
Tomorrow is the first Library Committee of the year, wch is always a bit of an ordeal. Brenda will be ‘attending’, the first time a deputy has ever attended – I expect it will upset Wood.
Do leave any little jobs for me to do on Saturday. Write them down. As long as they are things I can do – not requiring any brains or skill!
I go up to London and back on Wednesday, to attend an Arts Co. meeting. It’s now quite settled that Cecil Day Lewis will start visiting Hull in January.
How neat and tidy your letter is! You are a wonderful old creature. I shall look forward to seeing you on Friday.
Much love. Philip
1 ‘A’ Level examination. Jean was determined to take a university degree as a mature student.
2 National Coal Board.
3 On 13 November Larkin sent a typed letter to Messrs A. R. Brooks enclosing his second letter to The Director, National Coal Board, Heat Advisory Service, Leicester: ‘Mrs. Larkin, however, informs me that the fire has been further inspected by one of your representatives, and also by the contractor who installed it. We are grateful for this response to my letter, but as in each case the matter appears to have been left rather in the air I think I should report to you that the fire is still not giving satisfaction. […] / I look forward to hearing your report on the situation in due course. Yours faithfully.’
4 In her letter of 25 October Eva relates that she has had words with her neighbours about their dog Zimba. ‘I opened my back gate and Nigel and Linda [father and daughter] were standing at their back door – plus Zimba. I told them they must keep their back gate shut and not let Zimba loose in the entry as the tradespeople were afraid to come to my back door. Nigel said “Zimba won’t bite them.” I said “I think he will, and they don’t know that he won’t.” Then he said “Well, tell them that he won’t”! I asked them to shut their gate else I should go down to the police station. I phoned Kitty and asked her what she thought about it. She advised me not to take any action for she thought it would be fatal not to be on good terms with my next door neighbour.’
26 November 1967
32 Pearson Park, Hull
My very dear old creature,
[…] Mrs Stubbs1 was speaking about a so-called comedian called Alan Bennett. Four poems of mine were on four TV programmes of his: I saw one, but it wasn’t very good. He imitated John Betjeman when introducing it, & it was then he said it was by a great friend of his, only I’m not a great friend even of J. B. A. B. I’ve never met.
It was pretty dismal in the town yesterday. Every weekend I think I’ll have ‘a good shop’, & look round as well as buy lots of nourishing food, but in fact it’s so crowded & depressing I just snatch up a packet of sausages & make for home, or rather for the Hartleys. George had gone to some film festival, so just Jean & the girls were there. The girls had been to Stratford on Avon to see As You Like It. Fancy going all that way! There was a special train for them, of course. Jean seemed to be getting on better with her economics. As I expect I’ve said, she hopes to get into the University next year.
In the post yesterday there was a pack of poems from some young man in London, saying he always came to Hull at Christmas & had rung my bell three times last Christmas, & could he see me this Christmas … I never answer the doorbell, anyway, unless it is rung long and repeatedly. In any case I rarely hear it. Hazards of Christmas in Hull! I expect to arrive between 8 & 9 next Friday – shall stay till Monday.
MUCH LOVE Creature
1 Eva’s friend from the Circle of Silent Ministry.
1968
10 January 1968
32 Pearson Park, Hull
My very dear old creature,
I feel extremely ashamed of my unsympathetic attitude on the telephone tonight – I wish I could take it all back. We started off happily, but then this fearful loss of temper on my part arose when I thought you were appealing to me to come & take you to Hyde should the occasion arise instead of even asking Kitty.1 I quite see now that you weren’t, and it was all most unhappy.
I certainly agree it wd be a great strain for you to go, & I don’t think you should in bad weather & certainly not unaccompanied. Of course I shd like to know – I wd send a wreath at any rate even if I didn’t go.
As regards the wretched fire, again I agree with you it is not right for you. Did Walter mean I should write saying to Brooks we didn’t want it, & wd B. knock anything off the bill if he had it back? This might be worth doing – I will if you like.2 I can’t think that any other solid fuel fire wd be much less trouble, though. I still think you should be able to live in the
kitchen as much as possible, though.
Oh dear! I have behaved wretchedly – I don’t know what gets into me. I humbly apologise. I really thought we should have a nice chat & you would tell me about your birthday. All day I’ve been thinking of you on and off, & have told one or two people it was your birthday. Perhaps I’m not well – I have felt a bit odd, very tired & as if I want to be in bed, though no other symptoms. I only wish I could wish you an affectionate goodnight in person, instead of at long range like this.
Thursday3 Your letter arrived by first post, quite in order, so I had it for breakfast. Thank A. Nellie for her messages: I’m sorry she hasn’t been well. A ball pen is just a ballpoint pen – just like you use, only of course they can be more elaborate and expensive.
The car seems to have cheered up for the moment – they are mysterious beings, almost with a life of their own at times, it seems. There was a garage bill of £22 waiting for me when I got back – such little surprises are frequent in the life of the car owner.
It’s about 20 to 2 – I haven’t been to work this morning, felt too fed up. I can see the first half of this term is going to be hell, like the last. Got up at 11, had a not-quite-hot-enough bath, a large breakfast, etc & now am almost ready to set out. I don’t expect there’ll be any parking space at the university.