We All Feel Like That, Reggie, Now and Then

"What?" you ask, constant reader, "you went all the way to England and didn't bring me anything back? Not even a recently declassified World War II-era communiqué between Britain's ambassador to Moscow and the Foreign Office?" Soothe thyself, fair friend, I have not forgot thee. Behold:



If the image is a bit difficult to decipher, here is a transcription:

H.M. EMBASSY
MOSCOW

Lord Pembroke
The Foreign Office
LONDON

6th April 1943

My Dear Reggie,

In these dark days man tends to look for little shafts of light that spill from Heaven. My days are probably darker than yours, and I need, my God I do, all the light I can get. But I am a decent fellow, and I do not want to be mean and selfish about what little brightness is shed upon me from time to time. So I propose to share with you a tiny flash that has illuminated my sombre life and tell you that God has given me a new Turkish colleague whose card tells me that he is called Mustapha Kunt.

We all feel like that, Reggie, now and then, especially when spring is upon us, but few of us would dare to put it on our cards. It takes a Turk to do that.

Sir Archibald Clerk Kerr,
H.M. Ambassador.