It will be woolly gloves and hats on this am forTai chi in Edith’s garden. perhaps frost will have melted a bit by noon. Following my self imposed plan of only mentioning families public activities Tom, Adam and the Blandys with their plays, Tv, and exhibitions will appear most often.Tom back from Richard 3,finishing world tour in NY. David (Grandson) still at Art Fair in Helsinki. Adam (grandson) had double page spread in Observer yesterday to prepare for his genetics Horizon on BBC 2 on Tuesday. His science programmes have so far been on BBC4 so it looks like promotion. Amazing Last Sherlock last night in which at the end everyone seems to be dead though last shot is of Sherlock watching Watson at his grave so possibly a Dynasty ending.The TV episode was called the Reichenbach Fall without an ‘s’. Conan Doyle drowned Moriarty in said Falls which I visited in my childhood. In 1931, two years after the death of our Mother, my father decided to take his two children me aged 10, and my brother Martin aged 7 , to Switzerland for 2 months of his summer vacation from Edinburgh university. He hired a french governess to come with us . We spent the first month at the Grand Chalet in Rossiniere , then a hotel, and the second near Rosenlaui at Schwarzwaldalp. To get there we took the train to Meiringen and then journeyed up into the mountains for 2 hours in a horse and cart.I don’t know if my father was saving money or this was the only transport available but my father was very anxious to see the Reichenbach Falls,death place of Moriarty. So half way up he led us towards this awful roaring waterfall with only feeble fencing and I had a nasty inclination to throw myself into the surging turmoil . I was relieved to get back to the placid slow moving horse burdened with all our luggage. In those days of trunks and leather suitcases the luggage itself weighed more than the contents.
London Saturday 16th January 1943
Worked a lot again and left office last. Cleaned and tidied my room as Mrs Townshend came to tea ( ED Petrie’s parents had been , and continued to be throughout the war very hospitable to all Petries’friends from Cambridge) talked about a play she’d written and she read, and said she liked, 2 of my short stories. I went back to Firewatch at the Ministry in the evening but sneaked out between 9-10 to see Ruth (ED David, later Hilton. School friend)and her mother who were having supper at the Majorca.Ruth had a temp. of 102 which damped things somewhat.
