Back in 1970, Hilary and Kathy were 14 years old and best friends in Washington, DC. Then Kathy moved to Tehran. They wrote to each other pretty often. Last year, Kathy and Hilary got together and reread their letters. They found them mildy amusing and thought others might think so too. They propose to post alternating installments of these 32-year-old letters when they get around to it. We promise not to clean up mispellings, bad grammar, or silly opinions. Read and weep!
Aug. 20, 1970
J.F.K., NY
[Purple stationery with two mushrooms and a butterfly]
Dear Hilary,
Right now we're in J.F.K. Airport waiting for our plane. Even though we were 45 minutes late we still have to wait 3 hrs. from now, even though we've been here about an hour. Ugh!
As for New York--I dont know where we are--the sky is cloudy and either it's going to rain or it's smoggy. It's really surprising--I've only seen 1 decent looking person (male), I take that back. 2. Wow. One was German, and the other Spanish. There is so much Spanish spoken around here, it's odd.
I dont know about you (Hilary) but I was snuffling until we got to N.Y. Not non-stop, but when we left the airport, if anyone said one word to me, tears would start streaming down my cheeks. Since it was only a flight to New York no one else was crying. Everyone was looking at me--how embaressing! (Look what the lack of school has done to my brain). I wasn't making any noise but you do notice when people cry. A couple of little kids asked their mothers "Why is that girl crying?" Now that is mortifying! I'm going to write on the plane, I'll tell you what the movie is.
Airplane (747)
Well, here we are. These things are BIG! But they aren't terribly exciting and they are cramped. Plus shoddy. I have some water leaking on me. We've been creeping away from the airport - but now we just seem to sitting here. We're in the middle of a thunderstorm - No - we are moving now. The movie is "Z" - I dont think I'm going to see it though--I can't spare the money ($2.50) and the thingy is broken in our part of the plane. I'll write later.
Later - London, August 21, 9:00 PM - (4:00 in the afternoon your time) Now we are in England, after arriving at 7:00 A.M. We went through a thunderstorm, and it was pretty turbulent. So, Steve Actually Made Use of a Motion Sickness Bag. (I have 2 for Barbara) I didn't get any sleep on the plane--I tried but it didn't work. It was only half full so everyone stretched out. My seat was taken, so I had to sit one row back next to someone who looked rather like Elliot (spelling?) Gould. I pretended to go to sleep - and I tried to, but neither worked, so I walked off disgusted to a window seat where I kept my face pressed against the window. Even if it was dark. When the sun did rise, the clouds were so thick I couldn't see land. When we finally broke through the clouds we had practically hit the runway. Heathrow is a big sterile airport. I dont like it, but I do like London. So much, in fact, that I want to stay. I love running around on the Tube and the Underground and the busses. Tomorrow, if the weather is sunny or...well, I'll say more about THAT later.
When we arrived here we slept about an hour & 1/2, then we took the Underground to King's Road - which is like Georgetown, but more so. For one thing, there is a lot more to Kings Road then there is to Georgetown. Secondly, everyone (almost) is well dressed, not sloppy in T-shirts and jeans. I saw more midis here than I have in all the times I have seen them put-together. Another thing, most of the Englishmen dont have beards or mustaches, and if they do, they are generally neater (then they are in the U.S.) What bothers me is almost everyone has a "London Shag"--still, they usually look good, so thats all right. We ate at a little restaurant in Kings Road called "Guys n' Dolls" where you can get a good sized plate of spaghetti for 3/6 (66¢). The English money isn't too much of a pain but then I haven't tried to buy anything yet.
Later yet (about six) we went to Picadilly Circus where -...Steve got lost. We found him soon enough - but he does that a lot. Picadilly Circus has the people in jeans and T-shirts - lo and behold they are American tourists! We went on a tour through London in a bus without getting out.
As for the weather - when we landed it was raining. If you wan to know how cold it is, people were wearing WOOL MAXI-COATS, or heavy sweaters. I'm glad I brought my coat. Tomorrow it may boil for all anyone in London seems to know. We shall just have to see.
I'm getting pretty tired, as I probably havent gotten more than 8 hours sleep in the last 3 days. I just changed into my pajamas after wearing my dress for 39 hrs. Ugh. So, I may write later, as I am beginning to think of a million things I have forgotten to say.
Love, Kathy
P.S. Don't write me here. If you must write, send to Kathy Talley, c/o LTC R.P. Talley, Box 600 Genmish, APO New York, NY 09205.
2:58:45 PM 
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