3 Dec 1940

On receiving her letter from Cairo, Dora being in Egypt, stamps, trying to get down to Christmas cards, Christmas shopping and the undertaking of taking Kammie, petrol shortage, Christmas decorations, no shortage of food, buying the Cockerell letters for Ursula and feeling awful about not being able to send it to her too, the Sadlers Wells Opera, meeting an old friend - Margaret - who married into the Furse family (relatives of Charles Furse, painter), the Furses' influence in provincial theatre, hoping to go to the opera but fighting a bronchial cough, Arthur and Genia [Ransome] - Arthur having written [Dora] a letter but not being sure if he should send it in case it made her homesick, Genia being unsure about Mother living with them, the effect of the war on the age of the population, Epstein's book, and works needed at Lanehead.