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and is interesting. The Nave is modern but
the Chapter house, is Norman, & there are
interesting tombs & details in the chancel.
The Verger who showed us round was as a
delightful example of unconscious incompetency
as I have met. He lectured the crowd of
sightseers with great volubility talking absolute
nonsense with the assurance of a professor.
His acquaintance with architectural terms was
slight & faulty. "There aint no ambulance nor
Triphonium in this Cathedral." was one of
the many gems he let drop. In the party
was a knee-breeched cleric of some sort, who
took the creature seriously, & had not enough
humour to let him ramble on uninterruptedly.
The Cleric asked embarrassing questions, which
the Verger answered somewhat resentfully, and I
was much amused when he passed an
aside to me "I'll have to be careful there
seems to be some sort of Antiquary in this
party." At Bristol our party broke up, Jocelyn
& Mary going going off to pay a visit at Crab Hill,
while I continued my Museum tour by
myself. I visited Taunton, Dorchester,
Salisbury, Devises, Reading, stopping at
the two D,s & eventually joining the party

at Crab Hill. The weather had improved & the day I
travelled thither. 16th Sept. I think was one of the
hottest I remember in this Country. The shade
temperature in London was 82°. The day after
I ran up to London to see my old Uncle Robert
who was dying, a wonderful old man nearly 86
with his mind as clear as a bell. He was
interested in my accounts of my travels & we
conversed for ¾ hour. "It's this damned old age
that is the matter" he said with a smile. From
Crab Hill we went to Tetbury to visit the Pellys
for a week & when there saw Cirencester, & Malmesbury.
Then on 23rd. Sept. we returned to London & returned
Mary to school. Here we intended to stay for a
week the length of our visit depending however, on
Uncle Roberts illness. As he was clearly sinking fast
we did not expect that it would be long. We
wrote for Sandy to come down from Catterick
as the old man wanted to see him & he
arrived on Friday 26th. That night all the
railway employees in the Country went out
on strike. Uncle Robert had died on the 25th. The
cessation of all train services including "Tubes"
& Underground, threw all the traffic of London
onto the streets. With lightening rapidity the
government mobilised immense numbers of
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