Primary tabs
Transcription
[page 49]
95
(2).
laughter at a red-nosed comedian who is making the time honored jokes about mothers-in-law, Von Tirpitz' whiskers and so forth. These people have paid up to 12/6 each for their seats and frequently have to book a week ahead to get them. A new theatre - St. Martins - opened early in November and the price of front stalls was fixed at a guinea and this for an ordinary Revue! I wonder if the people will be fools enough to pay it.
My stay in England is at an end and I am off to France again in the morning. The packing up of my gear takes up all the afternoon (I must have my last evening free) despite the fact that I have the assistance of the Hotel valet to fold all my clothes. What to take with me in my valise and what to leave in London is the subject of much thought and mind changing, but experience of humping a lot of useless stuff about France has taught me a lot and finally the valise is packed with bare necessities and looks about half its former size. I flatter myself that this is due to having left out a lot of unnecessary things, but the truth of the matter is that it is mainly due to having my clothes packed by someone who knows how to do it. Like most men when left to themselves, my idea of packing is to roll everything up into a ball, shove them into the valise and then stand on the result in an effort to make the straps meet.
The knowledge that a visitor is leaving spreads round the Hotel staff like wild fire. The "Boots" doesn't leave your footgear outside that morning but brings them in and makes some remark about it being a lovely day to travel. The liftman who is to take your luggage down stairs finds it will need two men, and departs for a friend. I tell a porter to get a taxi and after impressing me with the great difficulty of securing a taxi at that hour of the morning, and thus worry me into going without my breakfast for fear I may