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[Page 19]
c/- Dr Madden
St David's Buildings
Sarrid-el-Mahgraby
CAIRO
21.6.16
Once more I'll try to write a letter for all my friends. It seems ages since I finished off the last – about Tenerife I think & many birds have flown North since then as the natives say – but we have flown South & are now in this ancient land of Egypt.
The last few days & nights on the Demosthenes were a nightmare. Of course we all cracked hardy & said we were not afraid, in fact to hear most of the passengers talking one would have thought that it would really be rather good to see a few German Submarines – but at night when one went to one's cabin & saw the life belt ready at the foot of the bunk & the ship practically in darkness from sunset & knew that above the boats were provisioned & swung out & that the Officers were doing double & treble watches – then it was not such good sport. I felt responsible for my three children & in a lesser degree for my sister & my nurses. The last night was the night – very few of the passengers went to bed & the Officers told us to put the children to bed fully dressed even to their boots & I arranged with the two strongest passengers, who luckily were travelling alone – to come to my cabin in case of any accident & one was going to take Peter & the other Tingsie, while I was to see to Margaret. Every night after leaving Tenerife too I had a small bag packed ready for the children & used always to keep bottles ready made & well wrapped up day & night, so that at a minutes notice we could fly to the boats & yet have food ready for Peter.
I dont think I realized quite what a strain it was till I saw the lights Plymouth Harbour & knew that the children were safe. There were so many children on board that most of us were able to forget about ourselves thinking of the little ones. All the passengers in the saloon but two decided to get off & go overland to London from Plymouth – one was a Swede whom the Authorities refused to allow to land & the other was a man named Wilson who wished to experience the Channel during War.
We reached Plymouth about 2 am on Feb 26th & were told to be ready to land at 4 pm. We were ready & had coffee & sandwiches in the Saloon, but didnt get on shore till after 8, & then a fight to get the luggage thro'. The train was in, but no one was allowed to board it & we were all crowded into the waiting room. After about half an hour of this I went out & by the judicious use of a little palm oil I was able to put Amy & the children into our reserved compartment & was then free to see to the luggage. Here again luck favored me for I chummed up with an Official who put three porters on to my lot (we had only 21 packages & trunks) & took my word as to there being nothing "dutiable" & mine was practically the first lot thro' & into the van. I asked the man to drink our health, but he laughed at me & said he'd drink it at his own home that night, & afterwards I found out that he was the head of the huge railway department at Plymouth. No wonder our stuff was rushed thro'.
Thanks to a good system in England the paying for our tickets also booked us seats & we got a compartment to ourselves. We left Plymouth about 10.30 am & had a delightful run up to London. It was a fine day – snow lay everywhere & the whole country looked smiling & fair. The only signs of war being that all culverts & buildings & bridges & tunnels had armed guards on duty – & we saw several Companies of soldiers marching & drilling. There was a good luncheon car on the train & we all did justice to our tucker – last meal having been at 4 am. We arrived at Paddington about 3 & found my chum Nancy Norris waiting for us. Here we bade hurried farewells to our Shipmates, & with the luggage on & in a four wheeler, & us in a taxi we set out for 53 Leinster Square where Nancy had booked us rooms. These proved to be very comfortable but rather high up. The children had over 90 stairs to negotiate between their room & the dining room. I had about 75 & my sister Trixy who was on the floor below again had about 60. Poor Tingsey used to say every time :"h my poor little legs & sometimes "what will happen if my poor legs get so tired & drop off".
There were 4 houses in this boarding establishment & in the dining room were two Belgian (/) waiters. Since we left I hear that one has been interned as a German. There were also about 10 Belgians boarding there. They seemed well off & happy. Frequently went to theatres, had plenty of nice clothes & jewels & yet when some lady got up a subscription for supplying respirators for our men, altho' we were only giving 1/- each they one & all refused to give a cent. For my part I think charity should begin at home & I dont intend to give another penny to the Belgian fund.
Some friends of mine, a Mr & Mrs Turpin who live at Finchley told me of their experience with Belgians, & I give it verbatim. They decided to help & so wrote to the Belgian Relief Committee saying they would put up two ot three Belgians for 4 weeks. They could not do so longer as they had been told to hold themselves ready to have soldiers billetted on them in 4 or 5 weeks time. They received a note from the Secretary of the B.R.C. thanking them and