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Diary Entry: Bank Holiday. Mark & girls biked to Culham with me. First Atomic Bomb dropped on Hiroshima. Diary notes: Mark Pitt was Marcia’s father. He seems, like KPD, to have been a keen cyclist. It had been a while  since KPD had mentioned the war in her diary, but the dropping of the first …

Continue reading “Diary Date: 6th August [1945]”

Diary Entry: Marcia very sweet. Walked Clifton Hampden after tea Diary notes: Marcia Pitt was KPD’s godchild (and, perhaps as she was not a mother, godchildren were always important to KPD). Walking too was important to KPD, but this is only about 4 or 5 miles in total. 

Diary Entry: Off early. Hitched Abingdon via High Wycombe & Oxford. Arrived Wittenham 3p.m. To stay. Very hot. Diary notes: Long Wittenham is a village between Didcot and Abingdon in Oxfordshire, and KPD’s friends the Pitts (the family of her sister-in-law Elaine) lived nearby.  

Diary Entry: On “props” Kodaks. Diary notes: A slightly strange entry – ‘props’ are generally non-electrical items, but ‘Kodak’ produced cameras and films. 

Diary Entry: Shepherds Bush & Kings X[Cross] am. Took Maj Crawford to Reading. Saw “I’ll be your sweetheart” Diary entry: Quite a lot of driving today, then to the cinema.   “I’ll be your sweetheart” was a British historical musical drama starring Margaret Lockwood and Michael Rennie. See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I%27ll_Be_Your_Sweetheart  

Diary Entry: Curzon St. & Euston St with Percy Stilwell. Denham, Kenton, Evening Cosgroves Diary entry: In and around London again – with the war practically over KPD must have been considering what she would do next. 

Diary Entry: Curzon St. & Euston St with Percy Stilwell. Denham, Kenton, Evening Cosgroves Diary notes: A day working round London, but no explanation of who ‘Percy Stilwell’ is (the only mention in KPD’s diaries), nor of whom the ‘Cosgroves’ were. 

Diary Entry: Rushes. London am. Denham Waterloo & Sydenham pm. Diary notes: Back to work in and around London, especially working on the ‘rushes’. (See details on Rushes in the diary notes for 24th July).  

Diary Entry: Home. V[Veronica?] back from Margate. Diary notes: ‘V’ is probably KPD’s sister, Veronica, but what she had been doing at Margate is unclear. Perhaps she just wanted a day at the seaside! 

Diary Entry: On pay. Kenton. Ealing p.m. Diary notes: I assume that ‘on pay’ meant something to do with taking wages round. But perhaps someone knows better?