It would have been interesting to read my grandmother's thoughts on the Suez Crisis but, true to form, she barely mentions the event! Is this because it was a matter of marginal importance to her or rather because she preferred to express her personal opinions in letters to members of the family? I myself, as an 11-year-old was dimly aware of the "gravity" of Suez but would have been quite incapable of saying precisely what was so grave about it. Looking back now, we can see that it was significant not so much because it marked the end of Britain's status as a great power - that was a process that had been set in motion many years before, perhaps even before the First World War - but because we could no longer pretend otherwise in the face of such humiliation. Never again would we be able to act alone on the world stage without, as it were, getting permission from the USA beforehand. (This was true even in a regional conflict like the Falklands.) At least we had the good sense to see the writing on the wall and by the end of the 1960s the British Empire, still pretty much intact in 1956 with the notable exception of India, had all but vanished.
When I write "we could no longer pretend otherwise", that is not quite true, for of course you cannot be expected to come to terms overnight with the consequences of your reduced circumstances. As preposterous as it may sound, I suspect that many people of my generation cling to the belief, in the face of all the evidence, that Britain is still a cut above all the other nations of the world. Well, we are, aren't we?
When I write "we could no longer pretend otherwise", that is not quite true, for of course you cannot be expected to come to terms overnight with the consequences of your reduced circumstances. As preposterous as it may sound, I suspect that many people of my generation cling to the belief, in the face of all the evidence, that Britain is still a cut above all the other nations of the world. Well, we are, aren't we?
I think I must remember a bit more than you do because of what as a consequence happened in Tripoli, and also because I remember the grown-ups sitting up late at night to hear what was being said in the House of Commons. So maybe you are right and Gran saved her opinions for family letters. But you would think, wouldn't you, that she might have noticed that the unrest was spreading throughout the Arab world and so could have spared us a thought!
ReplyDeleteBut she didn't have much to say about the Blitz or the Battle of Britain either, so ..............
Not one of Life's natural historians.
Which raises the question: where are those letters?!
DeleteThe only letters in existence are those between Gran and Grandad, mostly dating from the First World War. Sarah has all of them (a huge cardboard carton-full) and is gradually transcribing them. I don't think any of Gran's daughters have kept letters received from anyone. If you remember, Mose used to write shopping lists on the backs of hers! And though I do keep letters I don't seem to have any of Gran's.
ReplyDeleteNot many letters from anyone now! And thanks to Curly Top the computer mender I no longer have my "archive" of emails. The sewer.
Thanks for the information! The reason I wondered whether there might be other "writings" about is because Gran mentioned somewhere that she read an account of her trip to Brittany to Reg. She was probably referring to her diary but I just wondered if there was something else...
DeleteVery sorry to hear about your email archive. Are you sure there's no way of recovering it? And who or what is the "sewer"? The archive or Curly Top? Why don't you transfer to a gmail account? That way, you can never lose your emails - not even if your computer breaks down completely or if your house burns down!
Curly Top is the sewer, of course. Haven't you read your Nancy Mitford? In fact, I think it's a derivation of the Indian (but which language?) for "pig" as used frequently by the Mitford's father to describe just about anybody he ever met.
ReplyDeleteThe answer must be to be religious about back-upping. But I will speak to the Squire about gmail.
Not ignoring what you have to say about Suez, which I found interesting and thought-provoking. Silly old fool, that Eden.