Page 97 - Belgrave Diaries(N)_Neat

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1926

Monday [13 September]

Very busy day rushing round all day fixing up things for arrival of Bs & departure of Daly. Went down to the Customs
to meet them, as usual the boat was very late.

They are decidedly "proper" people, he tall & thin & military looking & she plump & fluffy &, as we soon
discovered, quite exceptionally foolish, really most idiotic. She took de Grenier for Daly & the Sheikh's chauffeur
for the Sheikh - which caused some confusion! She is quite nice looking, fluffy pale hair & large silly eyes & rather a
high pitched inane voice. The Sheikh sent his car to meet them & we all drove back to the Agency. Altogether I
like their looks, he is about 48 or 9 & has been a long time in India & at Aden & a few months at Muscat. She is
really amazingly silly, her type of remark is "if we are not late we shall be in time" "some pearls are larger than
others" "what a silly looking place Stonehenge is" etc etc!! During dinner she discussed the characters of her very
tiresome sounding sisters, her girl, called Phoebe, & her son, at Marlbrough!

Daly handed over in a couple of hours & then went off in the launch to the cruiser on which he goes to Basra, thence
by fast mail to Bombay & Mombasa. The Sheikh called earlier to say goodbye & wept copiously. As usual in Arab
countries very few of the people came to say goodbye to Daly though he has done wonders for the place & was here
5 years. They are so keen always to greet new arrivals & forget immediately about the others almost before they
have gone. Of course D was too much the King of Bahrain. In the gulf he was known as the Sheikh and Sheikh Hamed
as his shadow! We moved into the new house as the other one was too crowded, its still rather damp but put our
beds on the veranda outside. The house is far the finest house I've ever had, really delightful & so large & important
from outside.

Tuesday 14th Sept

Busy day at Court & office.

Went up to the fort in the afternoon with Barrett & the Colonel, had a look over it. The Col if he says he'll do a thing
on the day seems invariably to do it on the other day! M went to tennis at Spences & I dropped the Colonel there &
then back to Agency & out to dinner with Sheikh Muhamed b Rashid, the Magistrate, & his aged father, about 80,
who used to be Wazir of old Sheikh Isa. Dinner on the shore close to the sea, a most excellent meal with more variety
than usual. Motored de Grenier back to the Customs & then called for M at the Agency & back to the house. Cool
pleasant day. I fancy I shall be able to do pretty much as I please with Barrett, he doesnt seem to be of the interfering
type, still one never knows. He is tall & thin & plain, but thoroughly a gentleman - she is quite unbelievably silly -
quite a "fool woman".