— Lindy on Leave

Our first leave was in 1953 and we were away from March 29 until November 28  ?

You can read about the whole trip by clicking on the above link but here are some snippets from our leaves which concern Lindy …

Click to enlarge

I remember Lindy had to pack her school books in our trunks so that she could study on the ship going to Europe and coming back to Hong Kong!  I wonder how much actual studying went on … and how we coped going back into the classroom after such long leaves!

When we got to England, I think mom got rather tired of plaiting our hair every morning so we were taken to the hairdresser’s and all our tresses were cut off  ?

I guess mom and Lindy weren’t very impressed with the hair style they got from the run-of-the-mill beauty parlour the previous month because on July 8, they went to “Raymond’s” to get their hair done.

The salon was named after Raymond Bessone who was “THE” hairdresser in London during the 1950s!

«Raymond Bessone was the first TV hairdresser and kick-started the concept of celebrity stylists. He was born in Brixton and worked in his father’s barber shop until he opened his salon in Mayfair, which boasted gilt mirrors, chandeliers and Champagne fountains. His own flamboyant style was no less over-the-top. He adopted a faux-French accent and was usually spotted sporting custom-made, brightly-coloured suits, completing the look with a matching pocket-square, pencil moustache and exaggerated long cigarette.

«He was credited with popularising bouffant hairstyles in the 1950s and was famous for his immaculate precision-cutting technique, elaborate updos and celebrity clientele.

«During a 1954 television appearance, Raymond demonstrated his cutting technique by snipping off a “teasy-weasy bit here and a teasy-weasy bit there” – a catchphrase was born and from then on he became Mr Teasy-Weasy.»
[Source: Hairdressers Journal International]

Lindy with her new hair style (Click to enlarge)

So, while they went to get all glammed up, dad and I went to different music publishers and mooched around but when we returned to Raymond’s at 1:30pm to collect the ladies, we were told they wouldn’t be ready for another hour or so!

Dad took me to the Hong Kong Restaurant and I dived into sweet & sour pork.  You can take the girl out of HK but you can’t take HK out of the girl! LOL!

Dad must have told the staff where to send the ladies when they were finished as they walked in at 3:15 with Lindy looking very glamorous and grown-up ?

A week later a friend of Lindy’s from HK, Deirdre Smith, came over to spend a couple of days with us.

Click to enlarge

The two teenagers went and played golf (mini golf I assume) and then, after dinner, dad took us all for a drive but got lost so he said that he will not be going out in the car without maps again ?

The next day dad took us all to The Oaks, a park in Carshalton.  This park was laid out for the Earl of Derby in the 1770s, with some changes made to it 20 years later.

Mom, Lindy & me in a big oak (?) tree in the Oaks (Click to enlarge)

They planted trees to make a perimeter screen, as well as putting them in groups to make it look like a natural landscape.

The Carshalton Urban District Council gained control of the park in 1933 and 80 acres were given over to the public.

Unfortunately it started to rain so we didn’t get to run around or do anything much so went back to the house. After lunch we all went to the Royal Opera House to see the National American Ballet Theatre.

The first number was “Constantia”, set to Chopin, then they performed “Rodeo”, which dad didn’t enjoy at all. The final number was the Pas de Deux from the “Nutcracker Suite” which we all enjoyed thoroughly!

Daddy wrote that he liked Alicia Alfonso better than Fonteyne in “Sylvia” and Igor Youskevitch was just as good. The final number was “Interplay” and although the choreography was clever, it didn’t impress dad much.

We took Deirdre home – I think she was staying at her aunt’s house during the summer vacation – had tea and then went back to the house.

****

On August 2 we went to the Cumberland Hotel to pick up another HK friend of Lindy’s, Helen Feldman.

I read some interesting facts about the Cumberland Hotel …

The historic Cumberland Hotel, located at the end of Oxford Street near Marble Arch in central London, takes its name from the Duke of Cumberland (son of George II 1721-1765) and has been the site of a public house from as early as 1747.
The Hotel received a royal visit by King George V and Queen Mary two days before the public opening on December 12, 1933 – just in time for the Christmas holiday.
When it opened, the Cumberland Hotel featured all the latest developments for comfort. It was sound-proofed, double glazed, air conditioned and all 900 rooms had their own en-suite baths. All air entering the hotel was filtered to clear out any London smog. Two thousand staff were employed at the hotel and a specially built annex provided accommodation for 300 girls who worked at the hotel. There was one bath to every four girls and they ate in their own restaurant on the ground floor of the annex.

So we went back to Carshalton and the teenagers yakked and yakked and yakked.  I was told not to disturb them so, being the good little girl that I was, I didn’t  (yeah right!!!) ?

The next day daddy to us girls to Windsor Castle again.  Maybe Helen hadn’t been there so we all mooched around there, had lunch on the lawn, played there and then took Helen back to her hotel at 5pm.

****

Lindy spent her 14th birthday in Genoa, the day before we embarked on the Victoria!

October 29th was a Thursday and we all sang “Happy Birthday” to Lindy in the morning.  We got her a beautiful ladybug brooch, a slip and mail from Hong Kong, which dad picked up at the Lloyd Triestino office.

Poor Lindy was in a miserable state when she found out her ladybug brooch had fallen off her coat when we got on board the ship. I don’t think it was ever found! We’re sitting on the right hand side of the photo – me trying to console Lindy and mom looking away ?

Click to enlarge

Fortunately Lindy got over her misery and during the trip, she enjoyed her first grown-up late night with the oldies … after dinner drinks ☺️

Lindy with our folks sitting there for an after dinner drink ☺️ (Click to enlarge)

Once back in Hong Kong it would have been back to school until our leave in March 1957 ?

1957 Leave ~ From March 25 to October 27

We boarded the “Victoria“and were seen off by several friends, including Sashka Smirnoff, Balia and the Yatskins.

Lindy and mom on the games deck m/v Victoria (Click to enlarge)

I can imagine how excited we girls must have felt, leaving the “drudge” of school and daily life to sail across the seas to Europe! Lindy was 17 going on 18 that year, had finished KGV the year before, so she was finally going to see Europe as a young lady, rather than a teenager!

Once we left the pier and sailed out of Lyemun Harbour, our parents laid down the law about our study time.  I had to concentrate on maths for me, kak ?, while Lindy was to learn German.

We were going to meet Auntie Valia and Helga, her daughter, in Freudenstadt, and Lindy wanted to be able to converse with her cousin easily. No doubt she also wanted to show off her prowess with languages – and why not! She spoke fluent French and Russian and had taken exams in both languages for her GCEs, in both written and spoken, which she passed!

I do remember I had to sit in the Library, at one of the remote desks far from the entrance, and work for an hour – either in the morning or afternoon. Not tragically difficult to do but maths … augh! ?  The other hours during those lazy days at sea were spent at the pool, or reading books, or playing shuffleboard, or quoits.

Lindy would make me chat to some of the officers who gathered after dinner at the table tennis table and get them to play ping pong with me so that I could introduce her to them! There was one officer that she seemed keen on, a guy named Attilio.

I don’t know what she saw in him as he was short, had wavy hair and sharp, pointed teeth that had a greenish tinge to them.  Bleargh! ?

We arrived at Karachi on the afternoon of April 10 and Lindy went ashore with Attilio and some officers on another Lloyd Triestino ship. Huh! Pretty good that she persuaded mom and dad to let her go wandering around Karachi with a bunch of guys they didn’t know!!

Friday the 12th was Fancy Dress Ball after dinner so all the passengers were busy decided what costumes they’d get into.  At 9pm everyone who was taking part in the Ball gathered in the cocktail lounge.

Lindy had made friends with an English girl called Robin Alcock, who was travelling with her mother, and they got dressed up as Lloyd Triestino sailors, complete with drawn-on moustaches and goatees!!  They carried empty chianti bottles and pretended to be drunk as they walked around in the Lounge and they certainly made the audience laugh.  Unfortunately they didn’t win ?

However, John Penn, my father’s young friend from Trap Shooting, won the 1st prize for Men with his outfit of the absent minded professor!  John was about 10 years older than Lindy so she wasn’t really interested in him but they were friends and seemed to enjoy each other’s company.

Mom had saved a table in the Lounge so once the Fancy Dress event finished, dad, Lindy and Robin joined the table which also had the Beynons and Mrs Alcock seated there.  It was a very enjoyable evening and everyone had a lot of fun!

When we landed in Genova and disembarked, we went to the Hotel Colombia for a drink and Attilio met us there.  Afterwards he, Lindy and I went for a wander around the streets while mom and dad did their own thing then we all met up at Taverna Principe for dinner, before heading to the train station to board the Rome Express to go to the UK! Toot Toot!!

****

We arrived in London on April 24 at 7:50pm and got a cab to the Montana Hotel in Kensington, where we were staying for a week before schlepping down to Carshalton.

Mom’s good friend, Joanna Ramsey, had a swishy apartment in Kensington so she popped in quite a few times during our stay at the Montana.

Two days after arriving, we took Joanna to see “Damn Yankees” at the Coliseum and we girls thought it was a great show, but daddy not so much! We teased him about being an old fogey and both Lindy and I said he should get more “with it”!  Oy! Such cheek but he took it in good spirits! ?

The next day Keith Spencer, an old friend of Lindy’s from KGV, came to the hotel with two of his pals in tow and they took Lindy out to explore London for the day.

Mom and Lindy also went out shopping quite often, occasionally with Joanna, and as they would have been looking at fashion houses and other places to give mom ideas about what to do with Paquerette, Lindy would have been in her element!

We went down to Carshalton and a week later Keith came there to see Lindy.  As mom, dad and I were going to Royal Festival Hall for a piano concert, we dropped them off at Grange Park in Enfield on our way to the city.

On May 11 the oldies had a surprise for us … daddy got tickets for us to see The Platters at the Palladium. They shared the same act as Lonnie Donegan and his Skiffle Group, which didn’t impress us much, but Lindy was elated to see The Platters as she loved their songs “Only You“ and “The Great Pretender“!  Me not so much but obviously it was neat to see an American group perform, especially ones we heard so often on the radio, so while I might not have been elated, I was certainly pleased to have seen them ?

Before going to the show, we had lunch at the Quality Inn on Argyle Street, which was next door.

The next day, a Sunday, another KGV friend of Lindy’s, Dave Tate, came to spend the day with her. I remember him as a very pleasant but ordinary young man with glasses and brown mousey hair ?

Dad remarked that Keith and Dave both told him the same thing — that they were so unhappy to be in the UK after living in HK ?  He agreed it must be quite a cultural shock to come to a cold, wet and generally miserable England after the neon lights, noise and non-stop buzz which was Hong Kong!

Later that week mom and Lindy met Joanna for a day of shopping and checking out the various boutiques for ideas re Paquerette and then Lindy went back to Mr Teasy Weasy (Raymond) to have her hair styled!

It was probably because the next evening she was going out with John Penn, the young man we met on the Victoria and his friends to see “Fanny”, had dinner then ended up at the Latin Quarter.  Mom and dad were getting quite worried when she wasn’t home by 2am but she arrived half-an-hour later floating on Cloud Nine!  It was her first time enjoying a nightclub in the West End and the experience thrilled her to pieces!! ?

John Penn came to get Lindy at 11:30 the next day and dad found out that he had a projector and splicer, so dad asked if he could borrow them. John said “no probs” so dad drove him to his house in Purley and picked up the objects.

John asked if he could show his films as well so that night both he and daddy showed their films off, then John rode home on his bike while dad drove to his house to return his items.

Mom and dad went to Joanna’s the next evening as she was having a party for them and while they were out, one of Lindy’s old friends from HK, Jo Stanton, came over for dinner with us.  I remembered her from Lindy’s 11th birthday party which was at the Police Recreation Club when we moved from Cameron Road to Morrison Hill Road in 1950. If you look at the photo of the party on this page, you’ll see Jo Stanton – 2nd on the right kneeling in the front row.

On Sunday we collected Joanna and drove up to Cambridge to see Izzy, her sister, whom we’d first met in 1953.  This time she had two young men to introduce to Lindy – Brendan somebody and Derek McLennoch; they joined us for lunch at the King’s Parade Restaurant. After that we were invited to Derek’s flat, where Lindy tried on Derek’s mortarboard (aka square academic cap, graduate cap, or Oxford cap)!

The boys then invited us all onto a punt – we would have to split up the group and I have the feeling that Brendan took the oldies in his punt while we got Derek to take us for a ride! I must say I recall he was quite taken with Lindy but she wasn’t with him ?

A couple of days later Joanna rang mom all excited saying that Derek wanted to take Lindy out and she wanted mom to go and find out when would be a good time for him to do that,  Mom spoke to Lindy but she really wasn’t keen on seeing him so poor mom had to think up a good excuse for Joanna  ?

Keith Spencer came to see Lindy for the day during the week while dad was in London and after dinner, daddy told Keith to scram.  The poor guy had to cycle for 6-7 hours before he got back to his home so he must have been really keen to see Lindy to ride for all those hours!!

****

Maastricht ~ June 1-2

One of Lindy’s girlfriends from KGV, Trude Hoen (pronounced Trudy Hoon) and her brother and parents, had left HK a year ago to come back home to The Netherlands so after a quick lunch at the Café Suisse, we walked to their house to pay them a visit.

Not realising how far their house was from the city centre, we walked for miles but it was enjoyable, and Lindy and Trude were very happy to see each other again.

They both got on bikes and cycled away, so mom, dad and I caught a bus back to the hotel. The oldies left me in my room and went for a walk to see the city’s sights.

Trude and Lindy came back to the hotel and we all chatted for a while but when she left, we went out and had croquetten and chips for dinner at Markt Friterie. On the way back to the hotel mom and dad had more nieuwe haring, bought more friets and also some lovely strawberries and oranges to eat in the hotel room.

Now according to my father’s diary, we left Maastricht the next day but I have quite a few photos of us with Trude and her mother and brother so I think we stayed there longer than a day!

In the centre of Maastricht with Trudy and her mother (Click to enlarge)

****

Freudenstadt ~ June 5 to July 7

Dad drove straight to the Kaiserhof, where we had dinner, and coming back home afterwards we bumped into Corky, a KGV friend of Lindy’s, and Jürgen, the Dürrs’ eldest son, who were coming back from our place.  I think Corky was Dutch as his name was Cornelius but he was called by his nickname.

On Wednesday, June 19, Corky came over at 10 and when it was time to eat, we all had lunch together.  After lunch, mom, dad and Valia sat on a bench near Hotel Rappen and surveyed the wonderful panorama before getting a strawberry cake to bring home for our afternoon tea.

After tea, the folks went for a walk with Helga and Valia to shake down all the food, and when they returned home, dad helped Corky get a room at the Gasthof Kaiser.

We all had sandwiches for dinner then mom and dad pushed Corky, Lindy, Valia and Helga into Valia’s room, as they wanted to stay up and talk, while they had time on their own and I headed to bed as I had pains in my stomach (probably from too much strawberry cake!).

The next day Lindy and Corky went off to do their own thing while the rest of us got into the car and headed towards Baden Baden.

We returned to Baden Baden the next day and when we got back mom, dad and Valia went for a walk and then we all went to the Kaiser for dinner.  Corky, Lindy and Helga left after eating and the rest of us went for a walk, stopping for a cup of coffee on the way home.

****

Montreux ~ July 21-22

Sunday morning was awful – lots of rain and wind – so we took a long time at the breakfast bar! We were joined at our table by another young lady, Fräulein Rosemarie Feierling, who presented Lindy and me with a box of chocolates each and asked if Lindy would like to go to the casino with her and her friend that evening!

Good grief!  Can you imagine that happening in this day and age (the 2010s)?  Some strange young lady joins your table and invites your 17 year old daughter to the casino?

Lindy went with Rosemarie and another girl to the cinema and poor old mama had to pack the suitcases, while dad wiped the car clean and I entertained myself with games.  We had dinner at Séchaud then came back to our rooms.  Lindy met with Rosemarie and her friend to go to the casino at 10 so mom and dad played canasta until she returned, at 2am.  I had a lovely hot bath and crawled into bed to sleep!!

****

Grottamare ~ September 5-6

We left Rimini at 10 and the drive to Grottammare was interesting but poor papa was tense as anything as the two-way road along the coast was full of tankers, heavy trucks and other big vehicles!

Dad had kittens every time he had to overtake one of those monsters and driving behind them was horrid because of the diesel fumes they belched out! Feh! ?

We arrived at the outskirts of Grottammare at 1:30 and the place looked bleak and very uninteresting but once we found the esplanade, we were so relieved at how pretty the town was! We were meeting up with the Alcocks, Mrs Alcock and Robin were on the Victoria with us heading to Genoa, so Lindy was feeling quite excited to see her old friend again!

Dad tried several hotels, including Albergo Italia (where the Alcocks were staying) but it was a case of «tutti occupati» (all occupied); however we did find rooms at Pensione Clementi, which was a great little place as you could literally walk out of their dining room onto a sun deck and hop straight onto the beach!

We brought our suitcases into our rooms and after lunch, the oldies had a siesta while Lindy and I unpacked. When they woke up, we had a walk around the town and really liked the place. Had showers after dinner then we all fell asleep to the sound of passing trains! Some bright municipal spark added them alongside the coast road ?

The trains kept us awake most of the night but no-one was grumbling as we all enjoyed the resort atmosphere of the town! It was great to step out onto the beach after breakfast, feeling the cool breeze in our faces and the relaxed ambiance of the place.

Met Robin and her parents and they invited to «fare una passeggiata» (take a walk) with them up to the castle. It turned out to be a very enjoyable walk. In the evening Lindy went out with the Alcocks while mom and dad played Canasta till her return at midnight.

Saturday, September 7, dawned bright and hot, so daddy borrowed a pair of Mr Alcock’s trunks and enjoyed a dip in the Adriatic! Mom, dad and I joined the Alcock parents for a ride in a motor boat which was great fun as the sea was choppy, so we banged and crashed against the waves!

After lunch daddy hired a bike for me and after a wobbly start, I found it easy to ride so went shooting off, leaving dad in the dust!! The poor fellow! ?

At 6:30 we met the Alcocks at Bar Diana and enjoyed a drink sitting outside, under plane trees, and feeling the village life around us before going back to Pensione Clementi for dinner then we all went to bed as we were leaving for Rome the next day.

1961 – when we went to the States on leave, before crossing the “Pond” on the Queen Mary and continuing our leave in both the UK and the Continent.

Pio-Ulski.com claims no credit for any images posted on the site, unless explicitly stated.

All copyright goes to their respective owners.