Leeming, Yorkshire, England, U.K

February 5, 1946

Dear Mom,

I'm glad the money arrived at home for May's and Hilda's stockings.

I'm very sorry that Aunt Phoebe broke her ankle. That will make life somewhat more difficult for Aunt Edythe and Uncle Cliff.

I'm glad that the Squadron book arrived at the house.

Now, while the details are fresh in my mind, I'll tell you about my 72 hour pass.

It began on Friday, but on Thursday I was up on a special run to the Durham ice rink. Even the girls from Newcastle were there. They usually don't make the Thursday trip. On Friday I was back to Durham, skating again.

On Saturday morning I was with a Dutch R A F. fellow, and we visited the Durham Cathedral. In the afternoon I went to Newcastle to a dance at the popular Oxford Galleries. And now I'll tell you an interesting story.

About three weeks ago, on a 36 hour pass, I was skating on a Sunday afternoon, and while I was gliding over the ice I saw, standing at the boards, a very beautiful blond.

So I went over to her and said, "The next time I see you here, you'd better have skates on." Just joking, of course! She said she was going back to Newcastle before five o'clock. I talked some more with her and her girl friend, and I left them to do more skating.

When I went back to the rink in the evening, what should I see but Doreen and her girl friend, Brenda, both on skates! Was I surprised?! So I skated with each of them, and Doreen said she would like to see me again. I told her I had a 72 coming up, so she said she would meet me at the Oxford Dance Hall on Saturday, Feb. 2nd. so I agreed.

After having skated on Thursday and Friday nights, I went to the Oxford Dance Hall on Saturday night, not expecting to see her there, because, with her birthday coming up the next day, I thought she'd be busy preparing for it. But there she was, telling me that, except for having made our date, she would have stayed at home, because she had fractured one of her little toes, and couldn't dance very well.

Anyway, we did dance, at her insistance, but I could see that she wasn't very happy about it, so we sat out most of the dances, and I had one dance with her auburn-haired friend, Brenda.

On the next day, her birthday, we took a bus to Durham where I did some ice skating while she just watched. At the rink I met another one of her girl friends, Marg, a brunette, who is just as lovely as Brenda.

All four of us returned to Newcastle where we had a delicious meal at the Odeon Cafe. Later we went to a theatre to hear an English dance band playing special tunes from a stage during a regular Sunday evening performance. It was quite a date. Three girls, blond Doreen, auburn-haired Brenda and Marg, the brunette.

On Monday morning I made a date with Doreen for the evening of Feb. 15, when I'll be in Newcastle just before going on my leave to Ireland. Later I wandered around the city, and visited the Black Gate Museum. As I passed the shop where Brenda worked I stopped to have a chat with her. Since it was near dinner time, I took her to dinner, and then we went for a walk in the nearby Park.

After Brenda returned to work, I saw the movie "Guest Wife" at a cinema. I then caught a bus to Darlington where I visited Joan for a couple of hours before returning to Camp.

Those were three terrific days of fun. Love, Lewis.