Page 622 - Belgrave Diaries(N)_Neat

then turned her out of the house and divorced her, which is done in a few words and by writing on a bit of
paper "I divorce you". Its a simple affair here, however the women were very angry about it. Tea and tennis
at the Mission and then we went round to do Grenier's house and shifted all the furniture making the house
look very much better. The Dames have altered their house and changed their rooms and the new drawing
room looks very nice indeed. Dr and Mrs Holmes came round after dinner and also Prior. Quite warm
weather, it has been much warmer than usual this year as this is the time when it should be really cold, a pity
as one enjoys the change.

Wednesday [24 December]

Office. The Shaikh and Abdulla and Mohamed came in and sat here on the veranda for a long time talking
about nothing in particular. A came back yesterday but the Shaikh had not seen him before. He seems to
have got a great many bustard with his hawks on the mainland. He looked very well and very brown, he
always gets very dark when he goes on these trips. The boat arrived and M and I went along to the Customs,
took some flowers which we put in the house. The new Adviser for Muscat and his wife arrived, people
called Hitchcock, he seemed a decent fellow and she very nice indeed, small and nice looking and very well
dressed. Thomas is leaving as he has not been a success there, he seems to have spent all his time on
expeditions into the desert which he did out of Government money so they decided to get rid of him. He
made no improvements and did nothing for the place except to close down a dispensary. Then came back
and picked up James and returned to the Customs to meet the bride and bridegroom. They arrived in a very
big launch covered with carpets with Parke and Walker and some travelling Americans on board. She looked
very nervous, D.G. and she walked arm in arm up the steps onto the pier. She is much what I expected in
looks but much older than I imagined she would be. She is far better style than D.G. I went in to the Customs
with him and he told me she had had many adventures owing to a land slide on the way so nearly missed the
boat. Went home and D.G. followed later and they all came to lunch also Prior. A very bad lunch. I had a lot
of talk with the Muscat man who was interesting, I liked his wife particularly. They left in the afternoon and
went back to the boat which sailed soon after lunch. He has been 15 years in Irak and knows arabic well.
Motored out after tea, called at D.G's and brought him back here. Prior came to dine. Miss Palmer is very
pleasant and it quite beats me why she is going to marry him, she is much better class than he is and a
woman of sense and means, she has a flat in London and evidently goes about a good deal, takes an interest
in politics and music and books and is quite a good conversationalist. She is very pleasant and easy in the
house.

Thursday Christmas Day 1930

People came to call as usual in the morning, all the office staffs and one or two other people, went to church.
D.G. arrived wearing a gray tail coat and a gray, collapsable, top hat. Miss Palmer was I think very annoyed
and muttered to me that it was ridiculous, quite true. Dr and Mrs Holmes came round to see James after
church. He has got simply stacks of toys all kinds of animals and lots of winding up toys. Afterwards we all
went up to the Fort on the suggestion of Walker and had drinks. D.G. came to lunch, he is a little tedious as
he now literally lives in the house. At times he is very demonstrative which always makes me feel so
awkward. Motored out in the afternoon taking D.G. and Miss Palmer. Dinner party at the Agency in the