25th August 1971

C/O British embassy

Boulevard Marshal Tolbukhin

Sofia

25^th August 1971

Dear Mum and Dad

Thanks for your letter; I am slow at replying as usual. I think my letters are a bit stilted when I type them as I am not fast enough to keep up with my thoughts. You have a choice lyricism versus clarity- which do you prefer?

We are pleased to hear the news about Marc Ivor and are looking forward to seeing him. No news about my baby i.e. I don’t have one on the way yet but I am not worried about it. We have just had our annual assessments so I feel quite motivated to work at present waiting for my rise (I hope I get one!)

We were quite sad to see A.L. and V.L. back to Prague on Monday. We enjoyed having them with us and hope to be able to visit them in Prague before the end of the year.

Last Sunday we went to the lake about 20 miles out of Sofia and met 2 more ICL families there. Jim M. the engineer who had his wife and children staying with him at present and Anton B with his wife and 2 yr old son, Mark. Anton B. is one of the new salesmen and we are going to dinner with him tomorrow to have someone else’s curry for a change. The lake was beautiful, the water really warm and quite clean- it is Sofia’s drinking water. I think we will stick to drinking mineral water while we are here. I went swimming twice and sun bathed. We ate some fresh trout for dinner and then came home to coq au vin and a film show of our Greek holidays for A.L. and V.L. This week has dragged as it is only Tuesday. This is because we got up at 5.30 on Monday to take A.L. and V.L. to the airport to catch their plane to Prague. We also had the hub caps stolen from the VW over the weekend so we spent time before going to work inspecting all the hub caps on the cars in our neighbourhood to see if we could spot ours. I was particularly annoyed as I had spent a long time on Saturday cleaning them.

On Monday afternoon we helped Jan H move flats. Her boyfriend Bill the marine was there and he took us back to the marine bar afterwards for lemonade. Anton B. was there as well and we had a very pleasant time.

I don’t know what we would do without Bill and the American Embassy. He is so friendly and helpful. We had a private showing of two American films on Monday evening at the Marine house, one called ‘The game’ about the Olympic games and the second ‘bloody Mama’ a very blood thirsty film about a gang of American hoodlums.

I should really be packing tonight but I feel too tired after the long day yesterday. As we are going out tomorrow evening I shall not have much time to get ready for the holiday- still we will set off when we are packed. The camping sites look very good in Turkey. I will try and keep the post cards flowing but don’t be surprised if you don’t get a letter in the next three weeks.

We are getting very mean lately and keep counting our money. I have just had to miss two pages on this writing pad because they are covered with calculations. Tony is starting to think about his next job. He has applied to join the ILO- the UN International Labour Organisation but does not hold out much hope of getting post as most people they employ are a lot older. Still no harm in trying. I must admit it would be great to have diplomatic status with special number plates on my car and be able to sail through border posts without problems. Of course the other attraction is the salary- the lowest about £7000 a year- I could quite easily retire Tony would be able to support us both on that amount. In any case we won’t hear anything from Geneva for at least a month. Tony has applied for no particular job but there are several going at the moment in different countries. Unfortunately South America is out for us because we don’t speak Spanish. We have also written to some Computer personnel companies to see what else is out there. Tony can’t see what the next logical step would be inside ICL so it is probable we will change employers unless they offer us some fantastic post. We shall see.

No more news really. We are both well and healthy now- it is quite difficult to get us both well together. The weather here is hot and the trees are turning brown already and Sofia looks quite autumnal especially as the horse chestnut trees are full of conkers.

What are you going to do with your winter holiday mum? Why don’t you come and visit us.? It is said to be quite nice here in November, I am sure it is time Dad stopped working. Let me know what you think. We could always give you some help with the air fare.

I hope Auntie Dorothy had a good time with you. Give my love to Paula and family I proudly show your photo to all our friends here. I will send a cheque to Paula when we come back after the holiday for Nicola’s and her birthdays. I will also buy Paula a handbag next time I come home.

Love Gillian

Ps I am still trying to give up smoking and I have run out of cigarettes. I have just found a crushed one down the back of the sofa and I am frantically puffing on it.

We remember counting our money; not only our bank accounts but also our loose change. On one occasion we found we had £1000 in our various pockets and wallets in a variety of currencies including Bulgarian Lev, Czech Crowns, American Dollars, Greek Drachmas, Austrian Schillings and German Marks reflecting the travelling we did around Europe at that time,  Oh of course a few pounds sterling as well.

We became very used to driving long distances throughout Europe and changing from language to another and one currency to another.

We would think nothing of driving to Greece for a weekend although it took over five hours to reach Saloniki. The first time we went we stayed at the hotel Victoria just on the road into Saloniki but on later trips we favoured the Hotel Delta more in the centre. The hotels were very cheap and of a good quality. The markets in Greece were bursting with fresh fish, meat and vegetables and the other shops had a Western selection of clothes, pharmaceutical products and household goods.

 We remember a weekend when went to Kavalla with Jan our secretary and Bill the marine. It was a real culture shock when we picked up Bill to find him armed with a cool box full of ice and coca cola which no self respecting American could travel without. Jan and Bill had separate rooms. Bill tried his hardest to gain entry to Jan’s room including singing ‘knock three times ‘ and knocking on the wall. Unfortunately it was our bedroom that abutted his so Jan never received the message.

It had only taken us eight months in Bulgaria to decide our next posting should be outside Eastern Europe. Some ICL people spent many years behind the iron curtain but we felt we were falling behind in the technology advances. Computers were evolving at a very fast rate at that time and computer companies were always bringing out new versions of the hardware and software.

Working with the ILO team opened our eyes to the great possibilities of working for a UN agency. The salaries were way above what the industry was paying and the perks were equally attractive.  The down side was that contracts were only allocated for fixed number of years, usually around three. This led to the last year in a post being taken up trying to negotiate the next contract to the detriment of the job the UN person was suppose to be performing.  In our limited experience with ILO, it seemed a bit like the particular regime of communism in Bulgaria, as it became a rather closed shop with the same people being re-employed over and over again regardless of merit.

Working in Eastern Europe also had its financial benefits for us. We did not pay tax in Bulgaria as we were on tourist visas. We did not pay tax in the UK because we were non resident. UK income tax was quite high at the time around 30% if we remember correctly. ICL paid for our rent, gave us car millage for when we used the car on business and paid our accommodation and meals if we went to other countries, or towns in Bulgaria. We were able to save a large proportion of our salaries and have a good time as well.