An Autobiography of an Ancient Athlete & Antiquarian

AUTOBIOGRAPHY 209 cousin Taylor gave us a lift in their big motor, and, lighted by 30 stone, the little machine jumped away, and was waiting for us when we got home. On Christmas Day we were all by ourselves, except perhaps Kitty, who left us on the 28th. This year I had just 50 cycle rides, without reckoning journeys to the post and station. The new year was dreary in the extreme, everyone being greatly obsessed by the continuance of the War, which was not expected, and I had a slight attack of influenza on the 12th to the 18th. The next day there was an Air Raid to liven us up, the Zeppelin working from Yarmouth to Lynn, no doubt up the valley of the Bure. I wrote of this to the Eastern Daily Press that '' the whole '' affair is very petty and bears as much relation to real war "as the Suffragette's window breaking did to actual politics~ "but we have to put up with spiteful attacks of this sort,. " and consider that if the Germans had any serious thoughts " of ultimate success they would not be guilty of such "conduct." The news of our North Sea victory which came on the 25th bucked us all up. There was nearly some local trouble on the 15th February, for an unusually cheerful bull in charge of the usual lunatic boy charged the accompanying cow and broke her horn short off, and then smashed up the railings of the schoolmaster's garden. I maintained a dignified silence, and he went on. Luckily my bull-dog Ikey Mo had strayed away from me or we should have had a sceue. On the 8th I had to go to London on business and saw my son F.G.R.'s home at Kingston for the first time. I lunched with H.G.R. at Simpson's aud returned by rail, finding that the old restaurant car had been taken off. On the nth at North Walsham I had lunch with a lot of H.A.C. men who were inclined to disbelieve that their pre– decessors had forgotten to remove a ramrod while having big gun practice against time at Finsbury, but luckily an old member corroborated me. On the 3rd February I had my first trike ride this year, and on the 26th went to Lynn to work at the Red Book to compile an index re Chaucer. I stayed at E.M.B.'s and went to see a prophesied high tide, which did not come off, and we all got locked out by the servants. Rheumatism and sciatica most painful and very weak.