Saturday 12th August.
Breakfast with an even greater effort – 15 minutes late, but found Nora, Egypt & Wilkie all missing. Up to ping-pong room & found Maurice there. Played with him and also Bob who appeared. Felt weak about 11-ish so Maurice & Bob took me to find beef tea. Left me in the Garden Lounge while they searched & Egypt pounced on me! They were away ages, but eventually came & rescued me – minus beef tea. The horrors had very nearly left me to my fate! Down & found I could join the tournament- but could find no one to play, so the steward put me in the semifinal. Played some hot fours. Ritz & Nora arrived sleepily after a while & the Doctor, Wilkie of course, not until lunchtime.
After lunch went & stood in a queue for hours to get tickets from Southampton to London. Then downstairs & played in ping-pong tournament. Discovered I couldn’t be in semifinals. Beat 2 women, then got beaten by a Jewess who eventually won.
Up to tea dance with Maurice & tread a pretty measure! Afterwards down & played more ping-pong.
Dressed for dinner – in red brocade. Maurice quite bowled over with my appearance – or so he said! He also approves of my white skirt & fluffy yellow jumper. Amazing! After dinner Nora & Mummy went to the pictures. I went up to the lounge to dance with Maurice, Wilkie, the Doctor & Bob. Danced quite a bit, then when they started Keno we went down to the smoke room & had a drink – Tom Collins! Amusing discussions – especially about my clothes!
Upstairs again after a while and collected Ritz & Beatrice. Dance music & then Jimmy played the piano – I danced a lot – with Wilkie, Maurice, Ritz & the Doctor. Maurice unfortunately has sprained his foot at ping-pong but still hobbles around. Persuaded Jimmy to play a long time. Wilkie & I danced the last dance & then he took me to bed-3:30! Nora very matey with Robert one of the men from our table!
A Family History in Letters 