Another letter from David!

South Stropshire!
So beautiful I've had to show it twice.

David, from South Stropshire, in England, spent a number of years in Fiji as a child. He got in touch recently and so kindly sent me a photo of Lomeri Cathedral. He wrote again after reading my post on growing up in Fiji and wants to contribute his memories:

So very interesting for me to read that analysis of yours of the influences of your Fijian environment upon your formative years. I certainly think the exposure to the natural colours of the island and the colours revelled in by both the Fijians and Indians, particularly, in their clothes and wares, had an extraordinary influence upon my development. And no doubt, as you have suggested of yourself, the influence of the house-girls must have been strong upon me too - as indeed must have been the influence of their husbands or boyfriends.

Also for me must come the extraordinary influence of the other boys, my peers. Before Gerald left for England he and I were the only whites in our very large class: all the rest, the Fijian lads, the Indians, the Chinese, the Samoans, and the Tongans, must all have had quite an influence, equally. It was concentrated and true Pacific exposure, sans the whites of Australia and New Zealand. Though at the time I wondered if I was missing out, I'm glad now that I didn't go to one of the all-white schools like the children of most of the other European families.

My head is PACKED with hundreds of absolutely VIVID memories of Fiji. I guess Gerald must have done something of a double-take when he received that map I drew him of your house - from memory after a gap of 47 years. It's all there to this day, photographic and exact. And not only the sights, but the smells and sounds. Anyway, to conclude, here's another favourite image of mine for you from back then: those extraordinary Flame Trees:

They were all around our house. I have never since seen trees as utterly almost blindingly dazzling and vivid in bloom!

Very best wishes,

David.