28th June 1942

Sunday

Drove back to Colchester this evening and met a superb turnout at Dedham Heath, sweeping round the corner near Mary’s* old cottage.  It was a large black bodied ralli with yellow wheels and shafts, drawn by a rather large chestnut with white socks and a white blaze, mane and tail on, stepping high, chin well in.  The driver looked like a farmer, as much as I noticed, my attention being taken by the horse, and drove very well.  He had a lady passenger with him, dark and rather good looking.  We swept past each other in grand style.  I have never seen such a turnout outside London.

*Mary Hulbert had been EJR's girlfriend in the early 1930s and had lived near Ardleigh.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

The book and website are so different.
book: no mention of moving out of Colchester.

web : drive into Colchester
book : arrival

I expected web to be cut down version of book not a different version

Enjoy them both but what else has been missed out ?

E J Rudsdale said...

Rudsdale's full wartime journals amounted to 500,000 words and the book was limited to 100,000 words, so consequently the book is an edited version of Rudsdale's journals. With so much additional material, that it was not possible to publish in the book, I now publish this additional material on the blog. The publishers also asked me to restrict the publishing of material on the blog that was to be published in the book. The aim, therefore, is for the blog to complement the book by providing extra material beyond the scope of the book, which I hope is of interest to readers. Best wishes, CP