Page 642 - Belgrave Diaries(N)_Neat

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1931

as he had not discovered that it was a different boat. He was very haughty and talked much about what he could and could not
allow till I got a little tired of it and said it depended on what the Govt wished to do etc, then he got cross. We went in and had
a drink, they had a very nice pair of old glazed Persian jars as a wedding present from Jackson of Bushire. I asked Keeley to
stay with me, he had had an awful time on the boat as she is only three feet above the sea level in parts and they had met bad
weather. He came ashore in the afternoon. I went to the Mission, they have the American Consul from Baghdad staying with
them, quite a decent man but looks and dresses like a clerk. Better tennis than usual. The men of the Mission grouped
themselves round their illustrious guest and seemed to drink the words from his mouth. Very stormy looking sky but no rain.
The D.Gs and Parke came in to play Bridge after tea and Parke stayed on for dinner, I had asked him to before. Exciting
Bridge. I quite like this man. He told me a lot about Abadan, it sounds horrid and the Persians do all they can to be
unpleasant. He has been there eight years and says the climate really isnt bad, quite dry in the summer and very nice now.
They had frost there lately. The dog puppy died, the big one is on the mend and Siwa has recovered. Parke angled for an
invitation to Abadan but didnt get one. I lost my Arabic signet ring yesterday, possibly cutting down trees in the garden, round
the tennis court.

Wednesday [18 February]
Keeley went in the morning. A busy morning in the office as we are closing for four days. Finances in a bad way, I am really
very worried about it. This month the Customs brought us only 31000 and the Civil List alone is 39000 and total expenses are
80000. It cant go on and if things dont pull up I dont know what will happen. It has never been so bad before, very worrying
indeed and it depresses me almost as much as if it was my own cash. I got Prior to telegraph the figures to the P.R. in order to
strengthen his hand in writing about Civil List. Things have never been so serious. Soon we shall be as bad as Muscat.
Something will have to be done before the end of the year. Worked in my upstairs office. Gardened and then played tennis at
the Agency, Prior, Holmes and Revington, we had four hard sets straight off and then a very poor tea and no brown bread and
butter! Holmes lent me Philby's book Arabia which he has borrowed from Hakken. Just looking over it made me so angry that
I had to put it aside and read a mild novel, it is insufferable, lots about Bahrain in it and about British policy, he writes like a
very anti English Arab and shows all the time how angry Ibn Saoud is at not having Bahrain. I wish I had been given it to
review by the C.A.S. They fired the Ramadan guns so the Eid is tomorrow but I am sure no one saw the moon as it was so
misty. Rain in the evening and it is still raining lightly.

Thursday 19th Feb 1931

Eid al Fitr. Got up rather earlier than usual and had breakfast. Very stormy looking. Went across to the Agency and then with
Prior to Muharrak to pay calls, we went first to Shaikh Isa and then to the other five big shaikhs, I thought except Shaikh
Rashid they all seemed rather sour, probably owing to finances. During the morning there was a sharp shower of rain but it
stopped just as we reached the launch to go home in. Old Shaikh Isa looked just as he did five years ago, except that he is
rather more deaf he has hardly changed at all. He had not much to say and every word had to be shouted in his ear. In the
afternoon I drove out to Sakhrir with the doctor, taking him in my car. The Shaikh sent a message asking people to call at 9
oclock Arabic so everyone was there. He had a big meglis, there must have been at least two hundred people in the room
sitting all along the sides closely packed. The American consul who is staying with the Dames came out with Dame. No talk
of interest except that D.G. tried to tell the Shaikh, who did not understand, that he was lame because he had been wounded in
the War in Italy, which is I believe quite untrue. Afterwards we went and saw Hosha London's new litter of puppies of which