88 - MERMOZ, Jean

MERMOZ, Jean 6 letters “Mermoz” (4) or “Jean” (2), Barcelona, January–June 1925, to his grandparents, the GILLETs; 12 pages in-4 and 4 pages in-8, on letterhead from the Nueva Pensión Frascati. On the Spanish lines, from Barcelona to Casablanca. January 25. He has settled in Barcelona: “I’m very happy here because it’s a very pretty city. I’m stealing a lot—well, all is for the best in the best of all possible worlds. I’m staying at a boarding house for 10 pesetas a day, which comes to about 27 francs; the owner is Italian, the landlady French, the head chef Corsican, and the maids Spanish, Portuguese, and German; […] it’s the best and cheapest boarding house in Barcelona […] I get one day off on average every three days. We don’t have Sundays or holidays, but it doesn’t matter. I leave at 10:30 a.m. with the mail arriving from Toulouse; I travel all the way to Málaga, where I arrive at 5:30 p.m. after a layover in Alicante to change planes—that is, about 1,000 km in 6½ to 7 hours of flying time during the day under normal weather conditions. I return the next day and make the same trip with the mail coming back from Casablanca; on the third day, I rest if possible. It’s quite tiring because you have to leave and arrive no matter what the weather is like. Besides, it’s not beyond our capabilities when we know our job well and love what we do. Spanish food has only one flaw—it’s cooked in oil—but it’s hearty, and your stomach gets used to it fairly easily"... February 23. For the past eight days, there had been only two of them “to handle the entire route—regularly two trips to Barcelona, Alicante, and Málaga, totaling 1,200 kilometers in 6½ or 7 hours of flight time each day. What’s more, we’re in the two worst months of the year: storms and gusts of wind don’t spare us, and when you’re in the air all day, you’re constantly battling the elements; you’re happy when you arrive to find a bed and get some sleep, and I assure you that I sleep well with the satisfaction of a job well done. I’m doing well; I’m still eating like four people, which doesn’t make me gain weight, since I have to make up for the fatigue. The tough times we’re going through make the moments of calm and rest seem all the better, which is why I’m always in good spirits. […] My home port is still Barcelona, and it will likely remain so for part of the year—perhaps the whole year—although Dakar is set to open in a month or two, and it’s more than likely that I’ll go for training on the new route to Agadir or Cap-Juby”… March 17. “Service has been completely disrupted these past few days. The storm that has been raging for about ten days had stranded nine mail flights in Tangier; there were only three of us left to cover the Barcelona–Alicante–Málaga route, and I flew up to three legs—that is, 10 hours of flight time—in a single day under weather conditions I’ve never encountered in my five years of flying. In the end, everything turned out for the best, since all flights during this period were completed on schedule without incidents or accidents—at least as far as I’m concerned”…. April 13. He laments the franc’s poor performance: “It would take a miracle to turn our financial situation around, and I don’t see many people capable of bringing that about right now. I wonder where we’re headed. […] Still an enormous amount of work. I hardly ever leave the cockpit of my “car” these days. I spent my Easter Sunday at altitudes ranging from 500 to 2,000 meters, flying from Málaga to Barcelona from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., and the day before, from Barcelona to Málaga as well. I had the opportunity to attend a procession in Málaga. I couldn’t sleep all night because of all the commotion and the shouts from the hooded, half-drunk penitents. “A strange way to celebrate Good Friday, the day of the Passion—it’s incredibly picturesque, even grandiose”… May 18. He won’t get leave until October. He realized that the Company monitors the pilots’ mail… “I’m still working a lot; I don’t feel too tired because my life is well-organized—it has to be if I want to make a long career in aviation. I’m making pretty good money—last month, 4,500 fcs!”… June 3. He’s back from Casablanca. His leave has been delayed. “It’s just that we’re not sitting around doing nothing right now. I treated myself to a little trip of at least 1,500 km. All in a single day: Barcelona, Alicante, Tangier, Casablanca on the 30th, and I flew back up to Barcelona the next day—a 9½-hour flight in a single day.” He laments the franc’s instability and the exchange rate: “The main thing is that the