31 October 74
Dearest Susan, Tonia and Cameron,
Here it is, Hallowe’en again and the second year in a row I’ve missed it. Nothing like the Gray Cup which I will miss again this year for the 5th year in a row. And outside, the stupid Greeks and Turks are busy firing machine guns up and down the Green Line – about once a week, just for sport, I’m sure. To top it all off, the movie tonight was a dud. After a full week with no letter from you I guess I’m just a bit on the down side – I’m sure it’s not you; Air Richardson strikes again.
Speaking of our illustrious Defence Minister, he arrives tomorrow for 3 days. I am in charge of the air crew – I’m dumping them in a beautiful hotel in Limmasol, on the beach, leaving them a small bus with driver and my phone number and I’m coming back to Nicosia. There are 23 aircrew, if you can believe it. Tomorrow night we are having a mess dinner for him and a reception on Saturday night, so I guess I’ll be busy. In addition my job has suddenly gotten very busy.
At least it all makes the time fly. I can almost count the days now. I probably won’t leave until the last flight (14th) so that’s 45 days till I arrive home. Yahoo. I hope your time is going by quickly, as well.
We moved our mess into a “new” building yesterday. It’s an old home where I used to have my Office, just across the street from the Ledra and our engineers have been working on it for 6 weeks. It’s quite lovely, very cozy and more like a real mess. We had an opening buffet/cocktails last night, rather low-key but enjoyable.
On Sunday, a group of us are playing soccer against a team from the Austrians. We work quite closely with them, so I challenged them to a game. I had lunch with 5 of them at a small sub-station of theirs in a mixed village south of Nicosia, on Wednesday. They are good hosts and I get a chance to practice my German. I had spent all morning with one of them driving between a Greek and a Turk village trying to solve a big argument over water distribution in the area.
Please write soon…you are very good to me with your letters. I’m really not depressed, just tired I think. I miss you all terribly. Pictures just aren’t enough.
With all my love,
Kenn
XXXXX
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