A Family History of the Illustrious, Notorious and Eccentric Lloyds of Birmingham, Brigstock and Pipewell Hall - Flipbook - Page 208
r Sunday 1944
ran on ahead to watch the procession come down. What a sight winding down the narrow track. The pure voices of
man echoing across the mountains. The bells ringing in the village below to welcome the Blessed Madonna. What
blending of colour, the pink monastery, the green grass, and oh so many bright blues and reds, and every colour in
nbow in the cloaks of the worshippers. When we got down to the village, the streets were thick with people, and the
es crowded with children throwing bunches of primroses and camellias on to the procession below. The ground was
with blossom petals and wild flowers, and as we reached the village church women ran forward with gifts of money
Madonna. How far away from the war it all seemed, 8Peace On Earth and Goodwill to all Men= was the order of
, but to the army and me just another of those incidents that fills our dream like lives.
une 1944
Darling Mummie,
till on my way back north, but have called for a night in Naples.
ay remember that when I first came here I hated Naples so much with it9s dirt and poverty that I felt that I never
to see it again. But now summer is here, the sky is blue and the sea is even bluer, so at last I have seen the bay as it
be seen, and agree with the poets that perhaps this is the most majestic bay in the world.
moment I am lying on the rocks some five miles along the northern shore. Naples lies before me. From here it looks
oy town with the pink and white buildings climbing up the dark green hill to the 8Castelo9 which dominates the whole
low it the dome of the cathedral glints green in the sunshine, standing high above the housetops.
us is behaving well again now, quite quiet and only a small cloud around the summit. She wears this at a very jaunty
ke a woman wearing a new hat. Capri at the mouth of the bay is shrouded in a cloud of mist today, looking most
ous and seductive. No wonder the mermaid legend comes from here. Anything might happen, and one would not
t odd. I can9t claim to have seen a mermaid yet, but the Neopolitan girls who grace the rocks round here are the next
ng.
8pm
ow dining at a little restaurant called 8Antico Restaurante a Mare9 right on the sea shore, with Naples glistening in
across the bay. What more can I want except to have you here with me. A little band of Mandolins and guitars is
all those lovely 8Tenor Songs9 that one used to hear on the gramophone, and red sails drift past on the azure sea.
tti is being cooked, meat, fish and strawberries to follow. As it gets dark, the lights go flashing on across the bay, and
own. Rowing boats swish by, the occupants singing in glorious voices.
