The seventies Hippy Trail 17

9-9-74
Erith, England

Hiya gang,

I received your letters the other day and I was real stoked to get them as no-one else has written to me yet - the bums. Well I have finished work for a while and am going down to Cornwall in a week's time. I might do a bit of surfing down there, but it might be a bit cold now. It is supposed to be really nice countryside down there. I have not been doing much lateley - just working, eating, sleeping - well, watching the telly too. Ronnie Barker is in a new series called "Porridge" - it is hilarious.

Reading Festival

A couple of weekends ago I went to a pop festival at Reading, about 40 miles from London. They had some really good bands there and I had a real ball. I have bought myself a tent so I can can camp out wherever I want and go as I please. They reckon it is really easy to hitch hike so that is good news. I might even see about getting a job on the Continent through a job agency - maybe on a ski resort or the French Riviera - real cool!

At the same weekend as the pop festival at Reading the cops and the hippies had a big battle at another one in Windsor and there was a big stink about it. Even a worm may turn. I am going to see Crosby Stills Nash and Young next Saturday - it will be the chance of a lifetime. Tonight I may go and see the Grateful Dead. My mandolin has got a grooved back and I think it was made in Rumania. I got a new book about Bluegrass Mandolin yesterday - I should learn some mean picking.

Today I am going to Greenwich to the Maritime Museum and Observatory, and also to see the Cutty Sark. Very historical. The airline prices have just gone up here and even the student flights are about two hundred pounds to Sydney. When I want to come home, I will wire you to send me some money. I will see what happens, anyway. I have given up making plans. I just do what comes along. It is much easier. Well see you.

England Resources

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Reading is not only the place that holds the Annual Reading festival but it is also has more than a thousand years of history. It was important historically as the county center of Royal Berkshire. Reading is the town where the king Henry I of England is buried in front of the high altar of Reading Abbey. Reading has wonderful medieval churches, and age-old coach inns. The Museum of Reading has been there since 1872 and also houses an art gallery, a hall for concerts, and a conference center. Alfred Waterhouse(a well respected architect in Victorian times) designed the Town hall in the gothic style. Reading Abbey was consecrated by Thomas Becket in the twelfth century and is located near the Kennet River.

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