Page 359 - Belgrave Diaries(N)_Neat

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1928

which they usually missed. Had dinner with Jabr bin Abdulla, father of the Shaikhs sort of confidential head man, he
& the son were there. Quite a good dinner in a little downstairs room heated by a charcoal brazier, rather stuffy. A
gorgeous moonlight night & very cold.

Sunday 8th Jan.

Various people came to see me in the morning & also did a lot of office work for which I seem to have very little time.
Motored out to Idari in afternoon. The work of mending the water channel has been begun. They made an opening in
the side of the spring & there is a rushing waterfall going down into the marsh below, enough power to turn an engine.
Stayed there some time & then motored back. Fahad al Bassam came to tea, stayed quite a long time. Customs in the
morning. Abdulla came to call on me to tell me a long affair about marriage of his son, purely a family affair. Told
Fahad that Abdulla was angry with him about a silly remark he made about the school.

Monday 9th Jan.

Court. Tennis at Mission, very few people there. Tea at the Dames & then went into the Agency for awhile. The
Barretts were quite lively. There is a possibility of the P.R. coming down to interview Bin Saoud, who is at Riadth on
the mainland 7 days inland, about all this raiding & fighting on the Nejd Irak boundary. People here say that Bin
Saoud though pretending to be against it & to disapprove is really encouraging it. Everybody here has got the
gardening mania, it becomes quite irritating, everyone talks about his seeds or his cuttings not wishing to hear about
anybody else's, & it was all started by me. Barrett is now the worst.

Tuesday [10 January]

Biladya meeting at Muharrak. Cold day. Discussed the question of a causeway & bridge across to Muharrak. They
are all very keen on it. Quite a good meeting. Discussed numbers of passengers to be taken in cars 1 wished a Ford to
carry 6, I pointed to six stout members of the Council & asked if they really thought they could all ride in an ordinary
Ford car, they looked at eachother & cut it down to five. Motored out to Essex point in the afternoon & then to the
garden.

Dinner party given by Holmes, a most excellent dinner, he has quite the best cook here & his own home
made butter which is very nice. Played Bridge. Spence beat his cook, a Goanese, & was summoned by him in
Barrett's court. The cook left, later he applied for a job from Holmes, Holmes told him he would take him on & if his
boy behaved badly he would have beaten him too. The beaten cook said "But you have a special agreement with your
cook for beating him." Holmes does beat him occasionally but the place is good so he stays. Had a case in Court of a
man taking a woman in a car, taxi. The Municipality have a law that no women are allowed to go in cars with men
unless they are husbands & wives or have special permission from the Municipal Council!!!

Wednesday 11th Jan.