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[Page 13]
All Fools' Day.
service in Cairo when no duty called me. Stay again: To tell the whole truth: twice of the four times I was prompted to go because a famous English baritone was singing the solos. The other twice there was a bun fight at the end of the service. So I am not so very virtuous after all.
I've met some very nice people in Cairo and Maadi. On Sunday afternoon I motored out to Cizerah (or some such place) and put in an hour or two with Lady Willcocks - or to be exact with her daughter and granddaughters. I captivated the old lady in one act then recited to the children. One of them is Jean and the other Eve, and they are very nice youngsters : aged about 10. Also there are twins, girls , about 2 1/2 , and wonderfully fair and rosy-cheeked , and quite a good "ad" for Egypt's climate; but they go home to England in the Summer. Old Sir William Willcocks is an engineering genius. He first conceived the Assuam dam idea. The Turkish Goverment paid him a fabulous sum to go to Mesopotamia and report on a scheme for the irrigation of the valley of the Euphrates and the Tigris.
Because I was kind of heart and recited half a dozen times at the Continental raillies the Minister, Mr. Gillan, asked me to dinner. I went on Monday night. The dinner was good : the wines excellent : the Company pleasent : the night just perfect.
These Egyptian nights are wonderful. The winter cold has gone and there is spring in the air. The nights are fine and fair, clear and cloudless, with the moon just pure silver. The reflections in the Nile are gorgeous. The huge date palms stand out sharply from a star-spangled sky that somehow has a tint of green in its blue. Motors glide up and down the streets with rich Syrians, Greeks, Gyppies, Italians , Frenchmen or Britishers off to the Contiental or Shepherds or to private entertainments . The roads are fine, smooth as a billiard table and clean. In this respect at any rate the Gyppies can teach Australians a lesson. The Mena road and the Heliopolis road are two of the finest thorough-fares in the world. We can easily do 50 miles an hour along the roads here. And when they have to open up the streets for pipes or repairs they do it and repair the damage in a few hours. In Sydney it always takes a few weeks.
There is no bathing here. I'm sorry. I remember the fine times we've had at Manly and I wish I could get a swim here. But the Nile is taboo. There is some curious micobe in the Nile waters which gets in under the skin and produces some painful disease. But the niggers wash and bathe in the river. I dont know if it affects them.
Also we must not go without our boots and socks here (Not that we want to) . There are minute parasitical animaculae which get in under the toe nails and work havoc. There are lots of other things one cannot or must not do in Egypt, but I forget most of them. But I remember we must not eat fruit unless it has been washed thoroughly; or drink water unless it has been boiled or filtered; or eat green foods like cucumbers and lettuce etc. without a rigid inspection. Judging by all the things one must not eat or do its rather dangerous to be alive here. The sun is x responsible for a lot of sunstroke (One of our grooms got a touch an hour ago and had to go to hospital) . Then at sunset it gets suddenly cool and we have to put on warm things. So it is not surpising that lots of the men have to "go sick" now and then.
Somehow I don't think the last paragraph is very interesting to you. Anyhow I'm taking good care of myself and ma in excellent health and eating well. Talking about eating . I've only seen a few sheep about yet we have lamb very often (There are thousands of goats in Egypt). I have never seen any vealers or steers or calves, yet we got most delicious veal and ham patties
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