1950 – Northwood

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If on a Spring night I went by
And God were standing there,
What is the prayer that I would cry
To Him? This is the prayer:

O Lord of Courage grave,
O Master of this night of Spring!
Make firm in me a heart too brave
To ask thee anything!

John Galsworthy – Written out for Dorothy Barnard by M. E. James 1943.

In case of accident report to: Dr D. P. Embleton at Northwood 1356

Name: Katharine Boyd`
Address: 12 Grove Road, Northwood, Middlesex,
and 119 Bickenhall Mansions Baker Street W1
Telephone: Wellbeck 6522 and Northwood 1356

Sunday 1^st January 1950

Dullish. Fair.
Slept night of 31^st at Berry‘s. 9 missed breakfast. 10 James and Dougal with me to station. 10.36 to Northwood. Alys and Phil home from 119 Bickenhall Mansions in JLN at 10 o’clock. Cold turkey and ham. Wrote Sissie and to post. Rest. Tea. Cold ham supper. “Virginians”, 8.30. “Pillars Of Society”, Ibsen.

Monday 2^nd January 1950

Dull. Fair.
Phil‘s Tea 7.30. Breakfast 8. Alys and Phil in UMX to town. Mrs Bearcroft cleaned Alys’ room. I 10.46 to Baker Street. To Bank, and to pay rent at office, and electricity bill and voting register. To get milk at Hall’s. Met Alys at Rialto 12.30, 6/– seats. “The Third Man, Orson Wells. Alys home to Northwood. I stayed night 119 Bickenhall Mansions. Boiled egg.

Tuesday 3^rd January 1950

Dull. Mild.
Got wireless license. Alys phoned – wretched letter from Sissie; and Kitty, bronchial pneumonia. Lunch at Club. To British Museum to see Sutton Hoo burial things. Back to 119 Bickenhall Mansions. Tidied bookcase drawers; maps, puzzles. Rested. Two boiled eggs. “Now It Can Be Told – Rendezvous in Crete”, kidnapping German general by two young British officers. Slept at 119 Bickenhall Mansions.

Wednesday 4^th January 1950

Dull, mild.
Phil phoned. I did silver in Polivil? Housework. Lunch at Vienna Café (arcade) 2/– and 6^d tip. Dusted in p.m. Wrote Kitty. Phil called for me in UMX at 4.40. Drove back to Northwood. Rabbit pie and salad, potatoes in jackets. Portuguese book. “The Riddle Of The Sands”.

Thursday 5^th January 1950

Fair.
Letter from Sissie to Alys. Phil’s tea at 8. Breakfast 8.30. He at home; read in hut a.m. brazing in hut p.m. To shops. Post Office sponge fingers. Mrs. Bearcroft clean sitting room. Mrs Hill rabbit pie and fish pie. Alys drove us in JLN to St Albans. Sissie seemed very bright. Home by 4.10. All sent applications for car licenses (Alys and I £5 a standard ration) ½ duty. Savoury rice, cold bacon, orange jelly. Phil to Mount Vernon Hospital.

Friday 6^th January 1950

Fine, windy, cooler.
Phil‘s tea at 7.45. He and Alys in UMX to town. Alys to 119 Bickenhall Mansions and then to Kitty’s. Phil to Queen Square, nerve diseases. I washed and ironed napkins. To Boots, changed books, got oxalic acid. Mrs Hill came. Mrs Bearcroft cleaned kitchen in p.m. I wrote Ella; and Post Office for “Sailing In A Nutshell” 6/4. Alys back at 4. Rest. Phil back 5.30. Fried fish.

Saturday 7^th January 1950

Mild. Dull.
Alys to shops early in car. I later to get kippers and ices. Phil got beer and to Mount Vernon Hospital. Alys cooked roast veal loin. In p.m., I cleaned copper scuttle with all oxalic acid (2 oz in a pint). Gardener ‘flu. Phil rheumatism. Alys made onion soup with cheese. All to bed 8.30-ish. Cath phoned re. Nursing Home for Kitty.

Memo:
“The Late Edwina Black”.
5^th Mrs Bearcroft a.m. and p.m. (Kit nurse?).
6^th Mrs Bearcroft a.m.
6^th Alys to Kitty’s.

10^th I slept 119 Bickenhall Mansions.
8^th, 9^th, 11^th – Alys and Phil 119 Bickenhall Mansions.

Sunday 8^th January 1950

Fair, mild.
Phil to meet with Whiz (Eustace Cooke-Yarborough) at Moor Park. They went later in UMX to lunch at Abbey Hotel and see the Berry’s. Alys and I lunch at home. Wrote Amy Steel. Rest. Tea. “Imaginary Conversations – Maisie”. Supper in kitchen. Alys and Phil and Whiz to town 8.30. Alys and Phil slept at 119 Bickenhall Mansions. “Personal Pleasures – The Long Furrow”, Walter Elliot.

Monday 9^th January 1950

Fair.
Alys phoned. Read her Sissie‘s letter. Mrs Bearcroft cleaned my room. I wrote Sissie, and to Post Office with it and washcloth. Cold veal chop and sprouts. Rested in p.m. on sofa. “The Paying Guest”, George Blake 2.35. Phoned Ernest Vernor Miles, and posted him Sissie’s investments. “An Enemy Of The People”, Ibsen – set in Scotland by Lindsay Galloway. Tommy Handley’s Memorial.

Tuesday 10^th January 1950

Fair, some sun.
Defrosted Fridge. Kit phoned. Mrs Hill cooked fish (and salad) lunch. At 3.13 train to Baker Street. With Alys at 119 Bickenhall Mansions till Phil came, and they to Northwood. To Warner’s to see “Task Force”, Gary Cooper (U.S. Air Force). Home at 9.20 to 119 Bickenhall Mansions. “The English Novel”. Slept at 119 Bickenhall Mansions.

Wednesday 11^th January 1950

Fairish, damp, mild.
At 10, came Eva, Eve and James – Eva and James to shop for jacket (lumber). Eve and I at flat and then to Club. Eva and James there and all had lunch. Eve and I bus to whole Holtzapffel. They all home at 3.58. I to Society Antiquaries– lecture on problem of Sutton Hoo Cenotaph – Robert Bruce-Mitford. Dinner Club with Alys. To Northwood 8.16 about.

Alys and Phil 119 Bickenhall Mansions 12^th.

Thursday 12^th January 1950

Fair. Fog in town. Fine here.
Mrs Bearcroft a.m. sitting room, p.m. kitchen. I to Kitty’s 12 – 1 (Nurse there). Lunch at Vienna Café, bottom of Frognal (opposite) 2/6 + 6^d. Home by 2.15 and got rations at Kingham’s. Rest. Fishcakes and Smith’s crisps. Alys phoned. Radio Awards (National Radio Awards Presentation), Daily Mail in memory of Tommy Handley.

Friday 13^th January 1950

Fair, some sun.
Letters from Cleugh and Sissie. Phoned them to Alys (she went to Brent Bridge Nursing Home). I to buy fruit. Mrs Hill boiled a fowl, baked fillets and she and I had sausages and chips. Made fruit salad all p.m. Wrote a.m. to Sissie and Mr Friend, giving notice for Wednesday. Alys and Phil home at 7.20. Fillets with cheese and bread. Chicken soup(Lusty 1.8).

Saturday 14^th January 1950

Fair, mild.
Alys to shops then I, and met Alys and drove home with choc ices. Lunch at Durham. Marguerite Marwood there. Phil took her to Kingston in UMX and out to tea. Alys and I to Watford and tried to buy dressing for Sissie. Cook pruned trees. Phil back at 6. Sausage, bacon and eggs 7.30, fruit salad. “Musical Chairs”.

Memo:
8^th Whiz lunch.
11^th Eva, James and Eve to 119 Bickenhall Mansions 10.30-ish. Lunch Club.
11^th Archaeological Sutton Hoo 4.30.
11^th Alys and Phil 119 Bickenhall Mansion, Bunge 6.30 to 8.
12^th Alys and Phil 119 Bickenhall Mansions again – Phil Chang party.

Alys and Phil 15^th and 18^th 119 Bickenhall Mansions

Sunday 15^th January 1950

Dull, damp, mild.
Phil to Blennerhassett, but wrong day. Wrote Ella (with Ernest Vernor Miles’ letter) and Ernest re. Sissie and Lois re. Taunton. Cold fowl and salad. Alys and I St Albans to see Sissie and get nightgowns. Home to tea. Eva cold and sore throat. Cold tinned sausage supper. Alys and Phil to 119 Bickenhall Mansions. “Virginians”. “Personal Pleasures – Water”, G. B. Stern.