Pattie Boyd's "Letter from London"

GREETINGS!

Wow -- have I got mail from you! You really will have to believe that I love hearing from you and appreciate your kind wishes. Forgive me for not being able to answer each letter individually -- but each of you is invited to share the answers I write in this column.

I've been working hard lately, sometimes up to seven and eight at night. I have also started looking for a new home. Mary Bee and I would like to get something bigger -- and it is very hard to find an apartment in London, so we're at it night and day.

Let my tired feet be a warning to you, Tina Cuscianna of New Jersey, and to your friends, when you come to England. From what I've seen, I can't imagine that you will be able to find a cottage (which usually has, at most, only two bedrooms and one small sitting room) that will be big enough to hold all 12 of you! If you do find a house or an apartment large enough for all of you, it will cost you about $180 per month furnished. It will cost much more for a place near the center of London. I think you will have to split up into groups and try to find places near each other.

Nora Smith of Racine, Wisc., who wants to know what a month's holiday in London might cost, has sent me a poser. It depends on where you live and how you spend your time. London is expensive unless you really know your way around. You might get by, if you were very economical, on about $50 per week. Yes, Norma, we do have snow in London in winter, but not very much. Spring is delightful here, summers are hot and the fall is warm and golden.

One of the first things I want to do once I get settled in a new place is to buy my first car. I recently passed my driving test and I can't wait to get behind my own wheel. In England, you have to be 17 to get a driver's license -- in answer to a question by Jane Woodson Mallary of Marietta, Ga. Our test here is very stiff. John Lennon has been trying hard and only just got his now. When I get my own car, I'll tell you all about it.

My birthday, Pat Heidenfelder of St. Louis, Mo., was on March 17th, and I was 21 -- or, as we say here, I "got a key to the door." It took me almost a year to grow my hair to its present length, but some girls can do it in a much shorter time.

And talking of hair, what a lucky girl you are Kathy Haddock of Lockyhart, Tex., to have lovely curly auburn hair. Don't dare have it straightened, whatever you do, for curls and wavy hair are definitely on the way in over here! The girls are fairly rushing to get perms, especially the new type -- which is done as simply as a shampoo. It costs only one pound and lasts for eight weeks. I am considering getting one myself -- so when the other girls are in a long line for a curl, you, Kathy, will be the one who is laughing!

Pat Murphy of Appleton, Wisc., who writes me that since she lightened her brown hair to blonde, many of her friends don't seem to like her any more -- she should be happy. Dear Pat, you have such a loving family and so many other devoted chums, you don't need the kind of fair-weather "friends" who'd write you off because of the color of your hair. I don't think you're missing much.

I'm sorry to have to confess to you, Rae Ellen Itiecsorek of Rochester, N.Y., that I can't play the guitar or any other musical instrument, and now I am too busy to learn.

Marlena Visconti of Trenton, N.J., you want to know how to prevent your nails from curling down when they grow out long. Simple, honey -- cut them. You're letting them grow too long, which is neither practical nor attractive. I think medium-length nails, with light polish on them, are the neatest.

I am most interested to hear of your dressmaking, Glenda Haley of Evansville, Ind. I'm especially pleased that you have a Mary Quant pattern. Her clothes and designs are still tops here. I hope the dress you are making will turn out super. Hem-lines, by the way, are still rising and are now about one inch above the knee.

Good luck to you with your modeling career, Susan Daniel of Northride, Calif. The magazines you want to write to are The Queen, 52 Fetter Lane, London, E.C.4, England; Honey, Fleetway House, Farringdon St., London, E.C.4, England; and Elle, Paris, France.

No, Rita Kumm of Blytheville, Ark., I can't draw at all. Thank you so much for the sketch you did of me. I am sure that when I was your age, 11, I couldn't have done nearly so well. Keep drawing, and you may grow up to be a great artist.

Well, dollies, I must sign off now, but before I do -- thank you again for all the wonderful letters. For those of you who wrote my sister, Paula -- don't count on an answer. She just isn't the letter-writing type! Write to me in care of Sally Sutherland, 21 Agar Grove, London N.W.1, England.