When I was about 12 I found a Brazilian pen pal from a magazine. Her name was Marie Alice Mencarini and she lived in Sao Paolo.
It seemed very exotic to me to be corresponding with someone so far away. Heaven only knows what drivel I must have written to her, probably about my adventures in the air raid shelters, etc., or some other aspect of my fairly non-eventful life.
However, I remember telling her that I suffered from asthma, and she sent me a bottle of something called Vapo Cresoline, which my Mum used to burn on a shovel of hot coals from the fireplace. It would emit fumes that miraculously cleared my clogged bronchial tubes, at the same time filling the room with black smoke. I wonder what a danger to the environment that was? But I was eternally grateful for the relief.
But I will forever remember the kindness of someone whom I had never met, and if she ever reads this, she can be assured that she helped me immeasurably.
