Dearest old creature,
This is moving day – the men have spent all morning loading my miserable belongings onto their van, & have gone off for lunch. I have had my sandwich in the Library and am snatching a moment to write to you.
I think my chief impression is how old and dirty all my things are! When the bookcases were moved, the dirt of ages lay behind. When a man put some sofa-cushions together, clouds of dust arose! I felt rather ashamed. I don’t think Mrs Oates has been cleaning as well as she ought!
Heaven knows what damage I shall find when I come to examine my goods. The bed in particular had a hard passage. Oh dear! I will let you know.
Much love
Philip
30 June 1974
105 Newland Park 32 Pearson Park, Hull
Dearest old creature,
This is my first letter from my new quarters. I am still feeling rather strange and a bit upset – it’s a time when one is easily affected, and finding little things wrong with the house, or missing things the removers have almost certainly taken, produces a kind of disproportionate depression. However, in the main things are all right, so I must try to take courage, and hope that as I get used to being here and work out routines for living it will all begin to seem more natural.
The house is in a very quiet residential district – virtually no traffic – and really isn’t on the way to anywhere, so there are very few people about. It is nearer to the University than Pearson Park, but I don’t pass any shops on the way, wch is going to make things harder. I had got into the habit of picking up things I needed on the way to or from work.
There is still a lot of things to put away – often things for wch there seem no places here – and with Mrs Oates being ill the house hasn’t been properly cleaned; however, all will get done in time. Monica is coming on Tuesday, & on Wednesday we are setting out for St Andrews, where I am to get an Honorary Degree on Friday. St Andrews is in Scotland – the oldest Scottish university, older than Oxford.1
I shall be thinking of you always, and wishing I could be with you to tell you about it!
With much love!!
Philip
1 Larkin is wrong. St Andrews University was inaugurated by a papal bull in 1413. Oxford University had come into being in the twelfth century.
7 July 1974
The Old Course Hotel, St Andrews, Fife KY16 9SP
Sunday
Dearest old creature,
Well, it all duly happened, but oh dear what a wet day Friday was.1 I think it rained all day. Certainly Monica got her beloved hat wet, wch didn’t cheer her up, because the queue for entering the hall moved slowly. The day was in fact a science day – don’t know why I was there – arts having been done the day before; the other honorary graduates along with me included Sir Christopher Soames (Winston Churchill’s son in law), Sir Andrew Huxley (some relation of Aldous & Julian),2 & two other people. This time I wore a cassock, black with yellow buttons all down the front – very smart, but it was quite impossible to get at my handkerchief!!
The cassock was black. I had to kneel before the Chancellor, who dabbed me on the head with a sort of folded red duster (symbolising the cap of John Knox), then a beadle hooked my hood over my head (yellow silk lined with white) & I shook hands. Afterwards we had lunch miles away in some country hotel – still in the rain. By then I felt pretty exhausted.
In the evening we went to dinner with the Librarian, who has a nice house not far from the University.
On Saturday we walked round St Andrews – this was the first time we’d been able to do so – and then drove out through Dundee & lunched (rather late) at Glamis (Macbeth was Thane of Glamis, you remember). After that we went to Kirriemuir & saw J. M. Barrie’s birthplace,3 now run by the National Trust, & up Glen Clova, one of M’s beauty spots.
Now it is Sunday, & we are setting off for home – at least, we shall stay overnight on the way, & get to Hull on Monday. My car seems to be eating petrol! Money, money. These jaunts are very expensive. I hope you are well, dear old creature, and settled comfortably. I shall see you at the weekend. Then I shall be on my way to Sussex!4 Wonder what it will be like there.
We both send love!
Philip
1 Larkin had been awarded an honorary D.Litt. at St Andrews University.
2 Christopher Soames (1920–87), British politician, husband of Mary Churchill; Andrew Huxley (1917–2012), British physiologist and Nobel laureate, half-brother of the writer Aldous Huxley and the biologist Julian Huxley.
3 J. M. (James Matthew) Barrie (1860–1937), Scottish playwright and novelist, creator of Peter Pan.
4 Larkin was awarded an honorary D.Litt. at the University of Sussex on 16 July 1974.
25 July 1974
105 Newland Park 32 Pearson Park, Hull
Thursday
Dearest old creature,
I have spent the morning at home, waiting for various workmen – mostly from the gas board. This house has a sort of central heating fired by gas, and they have been servicing it & finding a leak. It has a time switch so in the winter I can set it to come on before I return in the evening, and the house will be warmed up. That will be nice!
While I waited I had the Test Match on, but it is off now, wch must mean it is raining at Leeds. No doubt it will soon be raining in Hull!
Isn’t it funny, me living all my life in Hull, a place I don’t know or care about!
Dear old creature, I think so often about our days in Coventry, how the traffic used to go up and down St Patrick’s Road, and I shd come in in the evening to find you ‘picking fruit’, with a cupful of water to put the maggots in – poor maggots! We should have put them outdoors. Do you remember how Daddy never liked hot pie, so his piece was always cut out & left to cool? Red currants, black currants, raspberries, blackberries – little I see of them now, except at Monica’s or Kitty’s!
MUCH LOVE
Philip
13 August 1974
105 Newland Park 32 Pearson Park, Hull
Dearest old creature,
I can’t see the tortoise in the garden next door: I expect he has crawled out of sight. Perhaps the rain has put him off, although I should have thought he was pretty snug in his shell.
Of course he isn’t as big as that.
Really, there is not much news. The University is very quiet. I am compiling my annual report, a task I find more & more tedious as the years go by. Yesterday I had a gas man in, and he found two gas leaks! I thought I could smell them. So that is a good job done. Today a man is coming to put up the remainder of the curtains, and a chest should be coming, for my bedroom. There is always plenty to think about – and pay for!
Much love, always thinking of you –
Philip
20 August 1974
105 Newland Park 32 Pearson Park, Hull
Tuesday
Dearest old creature,
Those wretched carpet-men left me with both doors off – I am furious at the inconvenience. God knows when I shall get them on again. It really is annoying.
In fact I feel rather fed up all round these days, though I suppose I should be a contented creature and count my blessings. It is certainly a nice sunny day, not too hot. I have bought a birthday card for Kitty, as I think it is her birthday tomorrow. Last night I made an attack on unmended socks – I have quite a lot – and mended about four pairs. I never seem to have the right coloured wool! In fact mending-wool is becoming scarce these days – I don’t suppose anyone mends socks any more. Lord knows what they do instead.1
The tortoise has disappeared again. I envy him. Nobody takes his doors off.
Always thinking of you,
Much love,
Philip
1 Several of the socks recovered from 105 Newland Park by the Phil
ip Larkin Society in 2004 following the death of Monica Jones have been darned with the wrong-coloured wool or in two colours. See Plate 5A.
30 August 1974
London
Dearest old creature,
I am feeling rather the worse for wear after staying a night at Bob Conquest’s flat, where he had a lot of people in and much champagne was consumed. Kingsley and his second wife were among them, looking very well, and one of Kingsley’s sons, who is now a writer himself. WE were not especially late to bed, or especially drunk, but the flat is in an awful mess (Bob’s wife has left him) and I have a feeling that I talked too much. Such evenings are not good for me!
Anyway, it looks as if it’s going to be another fine day. I hope you are not too boiled! […]
MUCH love
Philip
4 September 1974
Cally Hotel, Gatehouse of Fleet
Wednesday
Dearest old creature,
This so far is a thoroughly wet holiday, and not at all enjoyable. The hotel is a large one – we were here 10 years ago – and harbours plenty of children. The food isn’t too bad. Drink is fearfully expensive and so we have resorted to keeping a bottle or two upstairs, wch is much cheaper, and much quieter.
There really isn’t much news to report. We drove to Castle Douglas yesterday, and ambled about in the rain, then had a packed lunch by the wayside. A further drive took us to Moniaive near where Annie Laurie lived. In the evening we managed to catch a few lines of me reading my own poems on a portable radio I’ve brought.
I hope the zebra plant is well and that there are no problems at Berrystead. At least it can’t be wetter than it is here!!
Much love
Philip
5 September 1974
Cally Hotel, Gatehouse of Fleet
Thursday
Dearest old creature,
The waters are rising – it rained all day yesterday, hard and long. We went out and splashed about Newtown Stewart1 – I bought myself a pair of yew cufflinks. Then we went on and lunched in the car by the roadside somewhere – found they had given us packed lunches from yesterday, barely eatable. Fortunately Monica carries extra supplies. It’s always a fight to get the packed lunch even though we order it the night before.
I miss seeing you and hearing what has been happening chez Mr Bird. Is the zebra plant all right? Remember me to Kitty.
Monica sends love, as
I do –
Philip
1 Correctly Newton Stewart.
2 October 1974
Picture postcard1
Wednesday
Here is Prince Charles to keep Princess Anne company.2 I am in the train going down to London where I shall see Betjeman and go to Westminster Abbey to see him unveil a tablet to Auden.3 It’s a grey day & I expect it is raining. The cows in the field all look resigned. The train is fearfully hot. So was my kitchen this morning – I had left the gas stove on all night!
Much love, Philip
1 Prince Charles in uniform, saluting.
2 He had sent Eva a card showing Princess Anne on 30 September.
3 On the following day, 3 October, Philip sent Eva a letter: ‘It was a solemn ceremony. Poets’ Corner seems to be getting rather crowded! No doubt there will be room for me.’
17 November 1974
105 Newland Park, Hull
Sunday
Dearest old creature,
Had two kippers for breakfast this morning – one nice, one not nice! I just fancied them. The lawn was white with frost this morning when I looked out, wch surprised me, as I hadn’t felt cold in bed. But this is a much more air-tight house than my old flat at Pearson Park, when the curtains in my bedroom used to billow out with the draught.
Last Thursday was a very tiresome day, because a lot of students from other colleges came and ‘sat in’ in my Library, & I had to spend the afternoon wrangling with them and making arrangements to safeguard things as well as I could. It used up all my nervous energy, and I was flat out (metaphorically) on Friday. – – Hence my failure to write. Wretched little swine!
Yesterday I bought a mirror and hung it in the hall – too high, I’m afraid! I always hang things too high. Still, I can see myself in it, even if other people can’t see themselves. It’s a nice sunny day today, & I shall poke about in the garden after lunch. There are always leaves to get up! I hope you are well and comfortable, and finishing up your meals with relish. Pity you can’t have a Guinness!!
Much love
Philip
1 December 1974
105 Newland Park, Hull
Dearest old creature,
Fancy it being December already! It’s a very green one, and mild, so far: hope it won’t fill the graveyard! Not with us anyway! I can do without the graveyard for a while yet.
I’ve just rung Kitty up & she seems fairly all right, though a bit depressed – Walter’s been at home for a fortnight with a ‘nervous cough’, wch can’t have cheered her, and of course she has had a cold herself.
I bought a new dustbin yesterday, as my old one showed signs of collapse, and painted my house number on it. I also bought a ‘pruning saw’, and did a bit in the garden – I am piling up an awful lot of rubbish at the end of the garden: I only hope it sort of decays and disappears. Surely it must. I suppose most people would have a bonfire, but it all looks too wet to me!
I am getting up early & listening to the cricket from Australia – of course I fall asleep again. Looking forward to seeing you next weekend, & Basil Brush (the fox on TV)!
Much love Philip
1975
8 January 1975
105 Newland Park, Hull
Dearest old creature,
I have just written cheques for some £1300 in TAX, an operation that makes me gibber like an ape, especially when I think of it being spent on criminals and layabouts and IRA members. What a world we live in!
I was delighted to/ find myself about 2 lbs. lighter this morning – now Monica has gone I am not tempted to eat so much. Drinking remains a problem!
Perhaps I shall really have to observe Lent this year! Bread & water.
There really isn’t much news here. I have been slaving away at an article for weeks, and it’s nearly finished now.1 My happiest time is reading in the bath every morning for half an hour or so but it doesn’t last long enough.
Much love
Philip
1 Perhaps ‘The Real Wilfred: Owen’s Life and Legends’ (review of Jon Stallworthy’s Wilfred Owen), Encounter XLIV, 3 (March 1975), 73–4, 76–81.
16 January 1975
Picture postcard1
[105 Newland Park, Hull]
There was a little frost last night, but the sun is shining & there are roses still out. Tonight I am actually going to a conjuring show – one of our professors2 is a student of ‘magic’ & has invited me. Hope he doesn’t make me disappear! Much love
Philip
1 The University of Hull: the Lawns. The same card as that sent on 4 June 1974.
2 Edwin A. Dawes, Professor of Biochemistry and long-time chair of the University Library Committee. On the foundation of the Philip Larkin Society in 1995, he became its first chairman.
27 January 1975
105 Newland Park, Hull
Monday
Dearest old creature,
Have you eaten your buns yet?
They wd make a nice change for you – and they were so well buttered!
I found Monica had made a cottage pie when I got back, wch was very welcome. Then I set out on the long dreary journey back to Hull, getting in about 11 p.m. M rang as soon as I arrived: I think she thought I’d come to grief. But I’d gone slowly.
Wasn’t it fun, looking at all those peculiar birds and animals on TV? I liked the seals – they reminded me of someone!
Truly the world is full of wonders.
I have to go out to lunch today – a tiresome affair. But I remember sitting with you and watching the clear sky gr
ow peacefully dark.
All love as always,
Philip
25 May 1975
105 Newland Park, Hull
Dearest old creature,
Well, we (Monica has come for the weekend) duly made our way to Ilkley yesterday.1 We set off about 3.30 in the car, in our best clothes, & were able to arrive for the ‘reception’ at 6 p.m. It was cloudy & cold, & M was not happy in a long dress with nothing over it. We hung about in this central building, drinking about three (very few) glasses of red wine and getting very cold, until 7.15, then we were transported to another hall (‘nearby’) where presentations were to take place. More mismanagement – we had no tickets, so had to wait in a freezing porch until someone took pity on us & walked us in. The presentation of awards (cheques) to three people took very little time, then M & I legged it before the poetry-reading began, I saying that I had a dinner engagement in Hull. We ate sandwiches in the car & got back about 10 p.m. Ilkley Moor ’baht ’at!!! M said she certainly felt she had got her ‘death of cold’, but seems all right today. Awwgh!! Hope you are well & comfortable –
MUCH LOVE Philip
1 The Ilkley Literature Festivals had been launched by W. H. Auden in April 1973. In the first years they were biennial events, so this was the second festival.
3 August 1975
Durrants Hotel, George Street, London W1H 6BJ
Sunday
Dearest old creature,
I am just recovering – at least I hope I am – from three days’ watching cricket. Funny how tired it makes you! Of course, one is sitting for 6 hours on a hard wooden seat, and that must have its effect. But it has all been intensely interesting and exciting: I don’t think I have ever watched a more exciting morning than on Friday, when England got 6 Australians out before lunch. We were all grinning like Cheshire cats, everyone friends with everyone else.
Philip Larkin Page 60
