Chapter 11

There were coach trips too, one to Cambridge to spend a day with my cousin Gertrude whose husband Sir James Wordie was Master of St John�s College, and once to Oxford to see Joan Hymans whom I had known in Grenoble. Elizabeth Neal took me home to Taunton for a Whit weekend and the whole family picnicked at Lulworth Cove, and 1 spent most of the weekend seeing the countryside in John Neal�s M.G. - I was disconcerted on returning to London to find that, as I had worn a sleeveless dress, my shoulders had burnt to blister, something that had never happened when in South Africa, and I had to get a soothing lotion from a chemist.

Another weekend was spent at Weybridge with Phyllis Cow�s family, and we boated happily on the river. Phyllis� father, Noel Cow, had a sporting equipment factory, and I was amused to see his trade name Vacca on a tennis racquet.

I also saw South African friends. Percy Niehaus took me to Chelsea Flower Show, Jim Cuthbert came to see me at the Helena Club where we had a small glassed-off sitting room for entertaining guests - not a setting calculated to put guest or hostess at ease. I met Jack Kent at Achilles statue in Hyde Park before we went on somewhere. Jim Rennie was visiting his sister Isabel in Welwyn Garden City and I spent a weekend with her when Jim took me out one evening and we went on to the Ace of Spades nightclub. Harold and Madeleine Marnham collected me for an evening at the theatre with their older brother Ralph (a doctor, later knighted) after which we had supper at the Hungaria - or was it Quaglino�s?

I went by bus with Margaret and Mrs Shaw for a magnificent evening at the Aldershot Tattoo, and to the Derby with Jess Parker and other friends and we were not at all put out when �our� bookie welshed - and ran off with our tiny bets. When Molly Hartley came over, she invited me to spend a day with her cousins near London, and there I had my first experience of playing tennis on a grass court.

Then there were weekends with relatives. Aunt Emily was very welcoming at her cottage Kum Ben in Chesham Bois, and I loved her �typically English� garden and enjoyed her lifestyle of wide open windows, an open fire and a heater! To Barnet I went quite often to stay with Dad�s cousins the Patersons, where Hilda and Marjorie and Ronald all entertained me. I stayed quite often with Uncle Duff, Aunt Elizabeth and Jean at Hampstead. Their daughter Elsie and her husband Rollo I also got to know, with their family of four redheads. Uncle Duff took us to the magnificent Carthorse Show in Regent�s Park, and Jean took me to watch folk-dancing in the Albert Hall. Between my visits, Uncle Duff and I corresponded in shorthand on postcards.

There were, too, holidays - we had five weeks off from St James� in summer, and I certainly spent most of it in Scotland, but it�s not quite clear now exactly when I did all my visiting, seeing many people and places.

I travelled by L.N.E.R. from King�s Cross overnight to Scotland. Being used to South African overnight travel, I put on my pyjamas and got into bed - I only learnt later that most people there do not get undressed for the overnight trip. I spent a happy time with Aunt Margot and my cousin Dugald in St Andrews and fell in love with the city and the surrounding country.