Page 688 - Belgrave Diaries(N)_Neat

1932

we danced, the Americans on the whole danced exceptionally well, one of them, a huge man, was really a wonderful dancer,
Dr Tiffany and her young man appeared to be very affectionate and people thought that an announcement was going to be
made during the evening, but it wasnt.

Tuesday [26 January]

As usual I have got a little behindhand so cant remember what I did in the morning. Had tea with Major Holmes. He is trying
to get this oil concession in Arabia from the King, Ibn Saoud and showed me the Concession, which interested me very much.
It is not agreed yet and his difficulty is to state the terms of payment which have to be corresponding to gold, but as in these
days the value of the £ is moving up and down so fast it is a very hard thing to arrange, I couldnt give him any help and I dont
see how it can possibly be done. From Holmes' we went on to the de Greniers where we played Bridge. This oil business is
very interesting, at present the British Government, represented by the Resident and Prior down here, are trying to prevent it
and I shall be interested to see who wins.

Wednesday [27 January]
Abdulla bin Jabr came in, also Shaikh Abdulla who is terribly keen to know about the visit to Hassa, he told me various
rumours about it. I now go up to the Fort most mornings before breakfast and have a look at the new batch of recruits, local
men, they are not very intelligent and take weeks to know how to mark time. I got away from the office early and we went out
to ... ... picnic in Mohamed Yatim's garden. It was a wonderful affair, they had fixed up the house like an Inn with a signboard
and a real bar and Holmes and Mrs Schindler were dressed as inn keeper and wife and Mrs Steele and Mrs Russell as "village
maidens" Ham as the village idiot and Steele as a comic parson, really all very well done and most amusing. We had an
excellent lunch, sitting on the floor on cushions in one of the rooms and then had races and games ending up with a race on
donkeys. There were about two dozen people there, all the Missionaires as well as the English people. After tea we played
Bridge and got home about half past eight, a very good party and extremly well done. It was a lovely day, not too cold or too
hot.

Thursday 28th Jan.

Busy morning, in spite of its being Ramadan I seem to have a lot of work in the office. Took Galpin out in the afternoon to
various places he wanted to see and then for a drive towards Rufaa and to the tombs which he was quite interested in seeing. I
dont know how many times now I have taken people out to see them, I feel like a tourist guide doing it. Dined with Major
Holmes, the Dames and Dr Tiffany were there and her young man, called Hengie, an American by nationality of Swiss
parentage, he is one of the drillers at the oil camp. Rather a heavy dinner.

Friday [29 January]