Page 493 - Belgrave Diaries(N)_Neat

491

1929

Prior, who is growing a beard, didnt want to appear till it was more definite, at the moment it is not an object of beauty.
He is very good looking without one and I dont consider it an improvement.

Saturday [2 November]
Very busy morning. Had a meeting at the Agency on the subject of getting a new order in Council passed by the
British Government to apply to foreigners in Bahrain about the cultured pearl question. The meeting was Mohamed
Ali, Bienenfeld and Ben Simon, Shaikh Abdulla and one of the Kozaibis. Lasted about three hours but we got a lot of
things settled and did some good work. I hope it gets done. Busy in my office till nearly two oclock, a lot of office
work. Called on the Hakkens in the afternoon at the Mission and then Parke and D.G. came in and later on Prior.
Played Bridge. Prior came in to dinner, and a very bad one too unfortunately. The servants seem to have got very
slack and careless about things while I was on my own.

Sunday 3rd November 1929

Office in the morning, busy day. There is a lot of work just now and I am usually not up for lunch till two oclock.
Abdu Ali's wife came to call on Marjorie in the afternoon. She is the first of the Baharna who has visited the house.
Usually they are so very prejudiced that they wont have anything to do with Europeans unless it is necessary officially.
This woman had never been to any other European's house. She and Abdu Ali's sister came. They were very
unsophisticated, even thinking that Englishmen had more than one wife. They entirely refused to believe that Prior
was not married. For a man of his age among the Arabs to be unmarried would be a sure sign that there was something
very queer about him, it is so rare as to be almost unheard of. Went to see the Holmes after coming back a drive and
after dinner I went over to see Prior for a few minutes. He said he thought I ought to have an entertaining allowance as
we seemed to have to do so much entertaining. The well opposite the house has at last produced a fairly good supply
of water, it gives about 20 petrol tins per minute which means a good deal per day. Lovely weather now, cool and
brilliantly sunny. The locusts have devoured all my seeds which were just beginning to show, really gardening out
here is no joke, one has a thousand more things to avoid than at home. It if isnt too dry it is too windy or too rainy. I
sometimes think almost of giving it all up. Its very discouraging. This year so many of my seeds have not come up.

Monday [4 November]

Court. The sloop Crocus arrived in the afternoon. Went to the Mission in the afternoon. Very poor tennis and not
much of it as they took so long over tea and it gets dark very early now. Mrs Harrison from Muscat arrived here on the
mail. They are having a big annual conference here in a few weeks with delegates from America. An awful affair I
imagine. Dined at the Agency. The Commander of the Crocus and another man from the ship and D.G. were there.
The Commander, a very nice fellow called FitzRoy is a sort of cousin of Marjorie's a nephew of Lord Southampton and
a cousin of the Duke of Grafton. He was extremly nice, quite the best of the naval men I have met here. After dinner
we played Bridge. A very pleasant little dinner party.

Tuesday [5 November]