My dear Miss O'Connell,
I was very glad to receive your letter of the 2nd Oct.¹ Of course I understand how busy the Taoiseach is and it was very kind of him to ask you to write to me promising me a short note when he gets a free moment. If he could manage to send me just a few lines once every two or three months I should feel quite happy. It makes an immense difference to one's work to receive an occasional word direct from him.

T.G. the harvest is relatively safe. It was a terrible year and the Taoiseach must have been extremely anxious about the consequences.

The Spada about which you have, no doubt heard, is almost ours and, thanks to the Taoiseach, we are going to have a really worthy residence for the Embassy to the Holy See (as you will see when you come to Rome for your next holiday).

The climate here is not European. As the Italians who know both countries always tell you it is a north African climate. When you realize that, and take precautions accordingly you can support it - even delight in it. For practically four months the thermometer hovers about 90 degrees and occasionally goes near the hundred. We had only a few hours of rain between early May and the 4th October when we got a good downpour and a great thunderstorm - to everybody's delight as there has been a long water famine. The Authorities say we shall not have constant water in the taps until after mid-November. The whole country is as brown as the desert. You have to look very closely at the fields to see whether they are covered with dried up grass or just hard clay.

Rome is a wonderful place and you can't imagine anyone not loving it and not being happy here.²

Kindest regards,