Between leaving school and going to Cambridge, Ted Hughes did his National Service in the RAF. Writing from RAF West Kirby, in the Wirral, to a friend, Edna Wholey, in 1949 - characteristically there is no date on the letter - he exults in the wild weather:

Edna, I've seen rain and I tell you this isn't rain, - a steady river, well laced with ice, tempest and thunder, covers all this land, and what isn't concrete has reverted to original chaos of mud water fire and air. Morning and evening its one soak and the sun's more or less a sponge, and lately comes up frozen quite stiff.

LRB 29 November 2007 | PDF Download