Il Cairo 1953

Il messaggio arriva a stretto giro. Sinceramente lo aspettavo. Ero certa che la zia Evi mi avrebbe scritto sulla sua foto con John e il piccolo Oliver, inserita in Emozioni: ritrovare la nonna. Sapevo che non sarebbe passata sotto silenzio.  Ed eccola: “My dear! This photo was made in the Portico of the English Cathedral in Cairo in March 1953 after the Christening of Oliver (3 months old ) It was a very silly little cocktail-hat that the proud mother was wearing”. La zia Evi non si ferma qui, racconta che dopo tre settimane dall’arrivo al Cairo era nato Oliver, che aveva probabilmente inviato la foto alla mia nonna, sua zia, a cui scriveva costantemente lunghe lettere. “We had arrived at our first posting to Cairo on 28th November 1952 and Oliver was born 3 weeks later. I lied about my pregnancy, otherwise they would never have allowed me to fly so close to going to give birth. I must have sent the photo to Tante Hilda, I was writing to her regularly long letters at that time. We stayed 4 years in Cairo until the Suez Crisis in 1956, when I had already 2 little sons ( Pompey was born in 1954 ) and I was expecting Clarissa.I loved Egypt - it was a wonderful time with lots of very interesting and cosmopolitan friends living in Cairo. Thank you for reminding me of these happy times!”