Autumn 1956 in Mostaganem
20
Letter from Claude to Tandree
Mostaganem19 November 1956
....We hope Good Mom (Of Seals All right, all right. All right. Winter is never very pleasant at a certain age and I hope that Good Mom gets cleaned. We hope you're all right, too. 10 December is now approaching, and this time I hope that your return to work will be smooth. Thanks for the Mephisto hat you're talking about – there's no cup in the poor chicken's wardrobe.
Frédéric is a little bronchial (dental bronchitis, this is my diagnosis because he's at his 11th birthday).nd and 12nd
I've given him the wool socks knit by you this summer. He's very sociable and has a good time with the little Pen and the little Géli.. They're even such screams I'm not used to that I don't recognize him. He doesn't say much, ate/bye, auto, no, and he doesn't like to be alone in his room anymore. I hear him knocking on the door to say he's not happy.
The Upper Plateau and the region of Ami-Moussa you know, are infested with fellaghas. Yves goes to Algiers tomorrow 2 days, by day train.
Yesterday the Pens and Muller came home for lunch. The day before we went to the beach, it was soft, and not a breath of air, which is very pleasant.
I think we're gonna get ourselves a little camera, which is gonna be quite amazing. (Millet, future of the Villeguerin)received in Fine Arts; I think it's not that easy..
Letter from Claude to his parents, from Mostaganem,ca.
My dear Dad, my dear Mom
I haven't written to you for a long time – and I hope you don't bile yourself thinking about Yves and his movements. I was doing it at first, but now I'm not worried anymore... because he's more careful than the snake and I realize that in the end there are more car accidents than fellaghas accidents, but we're talking more about second ones than first ones!
Our Tuttoune always has a happy face and I find him getting more and more fat. He now says at the evening (which means goodbye) no longer has twisted legs. In short he is a nice boy and does not make sure stories. He rises up all by himself without being taken care of, plays alone in his room without breaking his mom's feet.
I caught up with... sore throat and started to go homeopathic pills. Time has begun to start and I felt like I was taking my last bath last week.
How are you going to Versailles? We'll be happy to see Mom if she comes at the end of the year...(Claudewas due to give birth in early January)
...The Pens went to Tangiers to find their son who was at their stepparents' house (Pen) And when they come home, they'll move to Mostaganem. (they will leave the farm of the beautiful Muller parents who is in the countryside 15 km from Mosta) Here nothing new... except that I changed my awful curtain rod to "railway rods" that work much better, and that I washed P. Marrot's curtains. Provided it doesn't shrink.
We finally sold the 4 CV.
Letter from Yves to Grand Father, (Grannie must be in Mostaganem)
Mostaganem24 December 56
My dear Father
We hope you will have a good Christmas at Seals.....Mother will soon join us and bring us news of Paris badly heated and without essence. (This is the consequences of the French-English expedition aborted in Suez by threats from the Americans and Russians. He had had interruptions of deliveries of Arab oil and therefore severe restrictions in France). The lack of heating must be very unpleasant for some.
Here we are not at all affected by these restrictions, but this may not last. I am now making plane tours, it is faster since we no longer travel at night. Our work has actually diminished because of the fellaghas and it will have to stop our minister from getting us to the top of the table, to negotiate with the leaders.(Benbella and the leaders of the rebellion, caught in a plane chartered by the Sultan of Morocco and docked over the Mediterranean)He's put in jail.While life is insecure, without great dangers elsewhere. The reforms made are considerable on paper, but not immediately applicable. It is obvious that it takes several years to set up the new administrative apparatus (tripling of departments and therefore of officials).Until then, many things can change..
The Prefect of Mostaganem(a new prefecture)It is said that it is not the current Prefect of Gers, and he must not want to leave France at present, and I think that we will have to find another. Finally Algeria costs mainly a lot of money to France, for a final result which can only be negative in the course of the current process, and it is likely that in 1957 this will change.(in fact, it will take until 1960-62 for De Gaulle to negotiate...).....
Frédéric with Granie who came to see us at the end of December 56
Letter from Granie to Grand Father, from Mostaganem, where she arrived by plane (a Bréguet "two Bridges"), late December 57
... today, as you can imagine, I made a good trip, it's very easy to become a swallow for 3 hours in a small plane that didn't give any shakes at takeoff or arrival, we sailed over the sea of clouds in a brilliant atmosphere since we were walking facing the South at noon. Everyone found a place on the upper deck and I didn't need to bump anyone to put me immediately behind the pilots' cabin, the officers saying that in case of a hit it was the worst place!
Claude looks very good, she is very active, and I think the birth will not be long because the baby comes down, ......Frédéric was kind enough to let me believe that he recognized Granie, and I didn't recognize him..., he's a big boy with strong legs and solid feet, he's dressed like a man, with a blue waterproof raglan and the Tandree hat that suits him very well. He's trotting around with a little bit of hair, because his big legs aren't quite right yet. He always has Madame Cordelle's eyes, seeing him, I thought how he looks like Yves. And now it doesn't seem as striking.
The weather is very mild, about 16° and it takes imagination to believe itself at Christmas.....