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Transcription

[Page] 70
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This enables me to be on the spot shortly
after 9.0. A few weeks ago I tried the
experiment of spending a weekend in
a room of the derelict farm house of Traprain
occupied by the ploughman & his wife.
My bed was spotlessly clean, but the mode
of life was altogether too primitive to be
good for one. The working man's meals
are not as ours, and I found myself
threatened with very short commons, so on
Saturday afternoon I walked into Dun:
:bar and had a good dinner at the
Bellevue Hotel! The only hot water I
got was brought to me in a tea-cup; a
bath was an article unheard of, likewise
other conveniences regarded as necessities
by the well-to-do.

3rd. Nov. 1919
I have been very remiss in writing up my
journal! We had a wonderful summer. In the
East and Central Scotland the drought was ex:
:cessive, and the crops in consequence suffered
considerably. The Allotment crop of potatoes
was much lighter than that of the last year. I broke
in the bank at the side of the house, which had
become almost overgrown with dandelions, and
planted potatoes there, but on the slope the

drought was felt worse than elsewhere & crop
was a poor one. I am at present engaged
in trenching the bank & manuring it with the
intention of taking another crop of potatoes off it
and then setting it out with rockeries & flowers.
Every Saturday throughout the summer I went
down to Traprain, and never had a wet day.
It kept me thoroughly employed in my leisure
hours, however, and my garden & allotment
rather suffered in consequence. When the
latter end of August came, we set out on our
holidays. The first week we spent at St. Cuthberts
and, thereafter, went on tour down the West
of England with the primary object of
visiting Museums, and the secondary one of
seeing old churches, cathedrals, castles, & all
objects of interest. We went first to Chester
where we put up at the 'Westminster Hotel'
near the station. It was clean & fairly com:
:fortable, but not first class, and I would not
go there again. The weather was bad, and except
on our first Sunday when we walked out towards
Eaton Hall and down the Dee from Eccleston
Ferry, it rained almost every day. Chester was
a little disappointing, the rows are quaint, but
so many of the old buildings have been reconstructed
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