May. Bees removal job. Breaking the law. The brigade of Sound Men. Swan Lake in Oxford, Doctor's Dilemma at W.E.A. Comus.
Saturday, May 1st
Celebrated May Day by going out with curate in a taxi to remove bees from old lady’s bedroom wall. They were behind a beam in the corner, about 3ft 6in high and 8 inches by 4 inches deep and the combs were long and narrow.
The honey, of which there was about 20lbs I put in a large bedroom basin; the brood combs I cut to fit frames and wired them in. By the time we had finished the floor was a slippery mess of honey and bees, the windows were thick with bees and the room was thick with smoke. As the old lady’s lodger was booked to sleep there that night we called her up to see the results of our work. This she viewed (she was somewhat blind) with more equanimity than we had dared to hope and said it would be quite all right, she would wait to later in the day when the bees would be “nummy”. We had allowed one and a half hours for this job and it was none too long.Sunday, May 9th
In June everyone who has no special petrol ration is to get a very minute one and those, like Nora, who have petrol for work, are to be allowed to use part of it for leisure. So today we broke the law and used some to go to Ewelme Downs. The may was in flower and the fields green with young oats and, though they were going off, I picked a large bunch of cowslips. We had lunch by the deserted barn and made a fire and boiled a kettle for tea. A wonderful summer day.
At the Hague, the “Congress of Europe” met and was addressed by Mr Churchill in a noble and moving speech.
“How little it is that all the millions of homes in Europe represented here today are asking…. The wage earners, skilled artisans, soldiers and tillers of the soil… Is it not a fair chance to make a home, to reap the fruits of their labour, to cherish their wives and bring up their children in a decent manner, and to dwell in peace and safety and without fear of bullying or monstrous burdens and exploitation? That is their hearts’ desire and that is what we mean to win for them…. If we all pull together and pool the luck and comradeship, and firmly grasp the larger hopes of humanity, then it may be that we shall all move together into a happier sunlit age, when all the little children who are growing up in this tormented world may find themselves not the victims of anguished and fleeting triumphs of one country over another in the bloody turmoil of destructive war, but the heirs to all the treasures of the past and the masters of the science, the abundance and glories of the future.”
A great hoo-ha about cleaning the National Gallery pictures. Wonder why anything ever does get done since any positive action always rouses terrific opposition from the leave it alone brigade of “sound” men.
Saturday, May 15th
A heat wave… Took bus at 4 o’clock to Roel Hill.
Tuesday, May 18th
Back to Henley, but like Black Hole of Calcutta.
Wednesday, May 19th
Went to a memorable performance of Swan Lake by (unreadable) Ballet at New Theatre, Oxford. The Old Girls' Association had hired a bus so went from door to door in comfort.
Sunday, May 23rd
A terrific cold snap. Air and ground frost and bitter wind. Went with M to Downs but had to come home in afternoon to keep ourselves from freezing.
Monday, May 24th
Cold air current continues. Read Sir Patrick Cullen in The Doctor’s Dilemma at the W.E.A. play reading and rather pleased with my effort. These play readings I started some years ago have caught on.
Sunday, May 30th
Smuts, to most people’s surprise, no longer prime minister of S. Africa, but Dr Malan. Effects on relations with the black races and Indians likely to be disastrous as politically and economically the new P.M. stands for total separation of the races.
In Palestine fighting going on, but more serious is the fact that the British-American entente has been endangered. Russia and U.S.A. have voted against Britain on the Security Council (on Russian resolution to impose sanctions if fighting did not stop within 36 hours, which failed to get the necessary two-thirds majority) Hope to goodness common front can be restored.
Still cold and raining, so prospects of doing Comus in the grounds this week poor. Duffle coat necessary at this rate.
No comments:
Post a Comment