Page 662 - Belgrave Diaries(N)_Neat

660

1931

Court. Yusuf Kanoo came to call in afternoon and stayed for tea, went out to Rafaa to dinner with the young Amir, he is one
of the best of the Khalifah, quite a good looking young man and more of an Arab than many of them, he lives in a picturesque
old fortress on the top of a hill and is the Amir of the town, he is always rather serious and at one time he was thought by the
Mission dr ... r to be developing melancholia. Prior and Parke and a young boy were the only others present, very good food
and quite plain. M went to dinner with the de Greniers who were having a party and I went along there afterwards and stayed
on playing roulette till the small hours of the morning. Mrs de Grenier, who is not young, became very kittenish which is
unpleasant in a person of her age. Rather a tiresome party but quite well done. Bahrain is becoming so gay that there seems to
be a dinner somewhere every night now a days. Mrs Steele, the wife of the Engineer I took on is quite pretty but awful accent,
she looks very young though she has been married ten years, she does nothing but complain of Bahrain and everything about it,
he looks very depressed because of her.

Sunday 8th November

. The Wakf meetings are very pleasant and informal, they always insist on providing me with a large cup of hot milk, having
heard doubtless from one of the servants that I used to have one, in the winter, in the middle of the morning, fortunately it is
always obviously boiling otherwise I should be nervous of drinking it. Dined with Khalil Moayad in the evening, he is a man I
dislike but have some admiration for as he never hesitates to say what he thinks, he and Ali bin Hussein, the Municipal
Secretary, who is rather a protege of mine, are deadly enemies and Khalil Moayad would I am sure go any length to do him
harm. It was a depressing entertainment, most of the English people were there and a few Arabs, but the dinner itself was quite
good. The women from Yusuf Kanoo's house called on M after dinner, it is most unusual as he never lets them out of doors
even so I fancy he wants something from me, he is an old man who never does a thing without a motive. While they were here
I went over to the Agency. M showed them all round the house and they seem to have been very interested especially by my
ties hung up in my dressing room, there are about sixty and they thought it a lot. Talked to Prior about various things, he is
very down on Parke who he dislikes and considers lazy and useless, he is lazy but not useless though perhaps rather expensive.

Monday 9th [November]

M went to play Bridge at the de Greniers, a new thing in Bahrain for the women to have morning entertainments, they do it in
many places, but before there have never been enough to do such a thing. Motored in the evening, some of the Mission came
to call and then Parke came in.

Tuesday 10th [November]

Old Bassam came in to call, he was fasting as being ill during last Ramadan he had to make it up by fasting for the number of
days he had been unable to. It must have been very tantalising sitting with us having tea but not eating or drinking himself. He
is getting to look very old but a nice little man. He is quite a friend of the family and never hesitates to tell me if he thinks I
make mistakes about things. In the morning I went and visited the Manama school which was really very interesting. They are
getting on well and have a big attendance. In one class the very small boys were being taught how to say their prayers with all
the proper actions and all the washing before and after, it was very interesting. I gave the top form a lesson in how to
pronounce English which they are rather bad at. Motored before tea and then attended still another dinner given by Mohamed