Page 823 - Belgrave Diaries(N)_Neat

past in platoons and did eyes right to the Shaikh who stood on the little platform infront of the dais taking
the salutes, the Police were very good & I felt very proud of them. Gastrell & I & the SNO stood behind the
Shaikh & when the police were passing I stepped up in front. Then they did some movements & finally the
whole parade advanced towards the Shaikh in columns of platoons, and halted. The Shaikh and I walked
across and inspected them, going round the lines in the usual way. Then we returned to the saluting base
and the whole parade marched forward, halted, and gave the general salute, after that they marched off
again into the Fort. It was a fine show, really a miniature review and I am sure it impressed the audience & I
think the Shaikh was very pleased by it. Then the Shaikhs horses appeared and were ridden up and down for
a while. The riders wore the usual scarlet & orange robes & they looked very picturesque. Then the Shaikh &
all of us went inside the fort to see the Police and the sailors and the sailors gave him three cheers. He & the
SNO & party went away but I stayed on as we gave an Arab dinner to the 250 sailors. They sat down in a long
row right across the yard of the fort at long mats and the Police carried in huge dishes of rice & meat,
melons, dates etc etc, just a plain meal in the Arab style. It was rather funny watching the men, most of
them had never been to such a thing & they were very shy of eating with their hands. At last I put some of
the Police down to eat at each circle & show them the way & then some of them started tucking in. Their
remarks were very funny, one talked a lot to me and said he had never had a meal so "queerly served" he
seemed to imagine we had just forgotten plates, spoons, knives & forks & did not realise that Arabs dont use
them. Ayesha came to the fort bungalow & looked on at the meal from the roof with great interest. They
marched off after dark, again with our band and we followed them in the car driving behind them through
the bazaar, to the pier, then hurried home & changed for a dinner party on the Shoreham with the NCO. I
felt pretty tired & had a whisky & soda - most unusual! Everyone went to the party & a lot of men from the
destroyers. We dined on deck, a lot of separate tables, & then danced a little. I sat on a table which gave
way - very awkward. The SNO got very lively & dressed up, he was really very amusing but the flotilla people
rather looked down their noses. They dont seem to mix. Beautiful night and absolutely calm. Watched a
shark round the gangway & a lot of water snakes, big ones. Everyone said nice things about the appearance
and drill of the Police at the review.

Tuesday 10th Sept [October]

Early celebration in the morning by the chaplain from the flotilla, at the Agency. Office in morning. Went out
in the car. Dinner party in evening & supper party at the Agency. It was a fancy dress show, I wore an Arab
get up, very cool & comfortable, & M did also. None of the dresses were very good. We had six from the
ships to dinner, one came early after hockey & changed here. They were a nice lot, one of the two young
Englishmen, Hopper, came to dinner too & I discovered that he had been at Bedford, but ages after me. He
did not know about fancy dress so I fixed him up in Arab kit too. We had quite a good party at the Agency, a
`treasure hunt' all over the garden, but many were not very suitably clothed for it. The party went on very
late & got rather dull & then people suggested going out to bathe in Idari so I took four of them in my car and
about twenty got into other cars & we all went out & bathed. It was very nice indeed & we had a lovely
bathe. The pool seemed almost full of bathers.

Wednesday 11th Sept [October]

M & I went out with the Shaikh in the morning in his launch to the "Duchess" one of the destroyers, which
came quite close in to meet him. We were joined by the SNO & then we went off and did a run of about 10
miles out to sea, past the other ships. The Shaikh fired a very wonderful new sort of machine gun, with four
barrells, which carries 2½ miles & fires 1000 shots a minute. They put down a target & he got it; I had a shot