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Grace Alice Holmes (nee Farndale) Diary
This is the diary of Grace Holmes (FAR00659) which touches on Tidkinhow and then tells of the family emigration to Alberta
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Hyperlinks
to other pages are in dark
blue.
Headlines
are in brown.
References
and citations are in turquoise.
Context
and local history are in purple.
IMPRESSIONS
OF A JOURNEY
By Grace Alice
Holmes (nee Farndale).
1927
Tidkinhow
1927 was one of
the wettest years I remember. It rained and poured the whole summer
and the grain was swept into the rivers in many places all over the country.
The water poured down Burk Brow like a river. The people at Charlton 's Terrace
had to camp upstairs as the water seeped into their lower quarters. They had
planks on the floor to walk about. We were ok on the hill top
at Tidkinhow, for once we had the advantage! For
many years we'd had hot weather during the summers and
everyone blamed the First World War with all that shooting big guns and small.
This must have opened the clouds and the floods came
down. The years were wet at any rate. I suppose we were in for a change of
seasons. Never nothing was ever the same again after that terrible war that we
can all remember.
Brother Martin came over
from Canada during the Christmas of 1927. Father was very
ill and he died in January 1928 at the age of 82. It was the first and last
illness of his life. He had had prostate gland trouble
and they wouldn't operate in those days on the elderly. The doctor said he was
as sound as a bell, except for this trouble. So ended the worthwhile life of a
fine old man. One of the best in his upright, honourable life and outlook. At
that time I was only at home
casually as Peggy
and I were at the poultry farmer Leeming Bar. She and Alf had got
engaged to be married in March so that was that! Both father and Martin had
discussed the possibility of my going back to Canada with Martin. I had serious
thoughts and I felt I knew I was going to do just that as I was at a loose end.
I had always wanted to go anyway. Then when Peggy and Alf decided to go that
did it.
It was an
exciting and busy time. I was thrilled to bits. Dorothy and
Alf Ross got married. There was so much to do selling our poultry farm etc.
‘We were all hell bent for election’, to use one of Howard's expressions. One
of our neighbours said he had never seen such an exodus of a family. I guess it
was Gran really, we all stayed as long as he lived, though he never asked us to
do that. We were to do as we wished. After all we were all grown up and we were
all very independent. John stepped into Tidkinhow
with the help of Lynn and did very well for himself during the Second World
War.
There was a
touch of sadness deep down about leaving the old place, for us all i think, and England. One never does these things likely.
But for me the excitement of going overseas counterbalanced all that. It had to
be done and I never tried to shirk difficulties. Sometimes I thought I rather
enjoyed the challenge in my quiet way. It made life more interesting. I had
already found out life was far from Rosie all the time long ago, just
occasional little glimpses. I was always an optimist and felt that there was a
new life ahead of me. At the time of leaving for Canada, I said I would stay
five years or so.
Dorothy and Alf
got married, just family in a few neighbours and off they went. Peggy and Alf
were the next. Ditto. A family quiet wedding and they were off to Canada. I was
left to pack up which was a big job. Martin was at the bungalow with me. Lynn
and John were ensconced at Tidkinhow and Martin went up again. I took as much
of our stuff packed in trunks and everyone packed solid. This chap took me to
the train and thought I had rocks in my baggage. Martin had asked me to go
alone to Liverpool on March 30th as he wanted to go to a big race at Liverpool
- The Grand National. I was a bit nervous really. However, he didn't go to the
race and met me at the train, was I ever glad to see him? I was a bit of a ‘green
horn’ travelling and I was terribly thrilled at going to Canada. I would have
got anyway, whether or not Peggy and Alf had. I have
made-up my mind.
1928
The Journey to Canada
I went on the Athenea
a small ship, ill-fated as it was sunk in the Second World War. It was a nice
ship. There were 1,000 third class passengers in the bowels. I was second class
and I got mixed up with a lot going on to the ship. There was a doctor asking
questions in a sort of wire cage place, about health etc and how many illnesses
we'd each had we'd had etc. He asked me the name of my doctor and I said I
hadn't one. He gave me a hard look and smiled and said, “very good”. Martin was
around and was mad and said they had no business to be questioning me. When
they found he was with me and I was going to relations and had enough money,
they let me through. Great relief! It was a great thrill going on the boat and
finding one's berth. There was a lot to do and all our
papers were again checked. One was continually pestered, and red tape. I was so
excited, I pushed back into my handbag and could never
find anything.
We were in time
for lunch when we got on board. It was a bit of a scramble but an excellent
lunch. In fact the whole voyage the food was sumptious. I shared a berth with a middle-aged woman going
out to be married. She was an old fashioned cup of
tea. It was 1928 and I was amazed at the amount of clothing she wore, woollen
combs and about half a dozen petticoats, to say nothing, over a red flannel and
white embroidered one on top. I didn't know people wore so many in that day and
age. I had only a vest, girdle, stays, and pants and pulled them off with one
stroke and was into bed. This person was very nice and told me she hadn't seen
her future husband for 26 years and wondered if he'd think she'd changed. I
tried to persuade her that she would be alright. I wondered though.
After I got
settled into my berth, I went out on deck and I met an awfully nice girl from
Pickering, a doctor's daughter, travelling alone, Joan Kirk. We chummed up and
had meals at the same table and were together the whole way. She was visiting
her brother at Hamilton, Ontario, a poultry farmer. We had a lot of fun
together. She was a tall pretty slim girl, quiet, age
21. We were both seasick and sat on deck chairs. A very nice young waiter
brought our food out on deck for us. We had rugs and were very comfortable
until we tried to walk and we were like drunken
sailors. But we never missed a meal. Joan and I did rather keep our keep to
ourselves. Martin lectured us from time to time about not walking and getting
our sea legs. But we went on sitting. There was another girl who rather hung on
to me, a nervous young person, on her own. I just had to look after her in the
end. She was delicate and couldn't cope with herself. She was alone.
It was a rough
journey and took nine days and we were glad when we saw land. I remember Martin
saying, “take your first look at Canada.” We were held up with Canada fog
before we could enter Halifax. The minute we stopped,
the sea sickness ended. I never felt better in my life, could have jumped over
the moon with joy. They made Joan and I go through a lot of paraphernalia again
when we arrived. Martin went right off and he said he
would be there when I got off. The delicate girl they found was TB and wouldn't
let her enter. She got hysterical and clung on to me saying, “don't leave me.” However they took her away and I never knew what happened. I
was distressed about her. I was worried sick Martin wouldn't be there, we were
so long in getting off the ship. Joan and I had our hand luggage, as much as we
could carry, and a black man carried the rest for us to the train, which was
wasn't far away. He set off at such a rate, we ran and couldn't catch up to
him. We giggled so much, and Martin came along, very amused.
We had berths
on the train and the man put our baggage in. He really looked after us, but we
were afraid he was running off with our luggage! Well
it was a bit of fun. That night we got to Hamilton and Joan had to leave us. We
exchanged addresses and we were both sorry to part. It was April 9th when we
arrived in Canada. When Martin called on the ship, “take your first look at
Canada”, I looked from a porthole. It was clear, bright and sunny I thought, what's
the matter with realising the low lying hills were
brown instead of green I'd been used to, first impression! People we had met on
the boat kept leaving us, not many were going as far as Alberta. But there were
a couple from Scotland, the man was a real character in that he made his
presence felt and was always conversing. He had a loud voice and seemed always
to be airing his opinions and embarrassing us. His wife was quite helpless and
just tagged along. Someone had told them to be sure to see the Canadian
National Railway in Montreal. So see it he must!
Another thing, we walked, he thought 5 cents was too much for the buses, a good
traditional Scotty. We must have walked the length of Montreal. The joke was
this man was stopping people on the street and asking, “Where was the Grand
National?” Martin and I were in fits of laughter, we couldn't speak! His poor
wife said, “if anyone tells that man to see a place he'll go through hell”.
My feet were
killing me, it was very hot and I foolishly put on new
shoes to break in. We had spent the whole day in Montreal. I remember Scotty (forgotten
his name) was well dressed in plus fours with all the trappings, binoculars
slung over his shoulders etc. I think he was on holiday. Nice people though.
He'd stop a bus to ask how much it was to the Grand National and then say the
fare was too much at 5 cents. He was a wonderful character, he led and we followed. Martin and I were enjoying him
ourselves, except my feet!
Montreal is a
lovely place, so full of interest. It all looks so new
and it seemed a pity to meander around, like we were, on foot. There were
sightseeing buses galore. Hard walking on pavement in new shoes. I soon felt
the effects of the dry climate. I was wearing a wool jumper and skirt. I went
into a shop to try to get a thinner one, but everyone spoke French and they had
to get an interpreter which was quite novel. I got what I wanted. Huge stores
and masses of goods of all sorts. Next day the Scotties branched off and left
us, we were sorry. They were likeable people we laughed so much, all of us.
Quebec, we
passed on the train. It looked interesting, lovely old buildings and the river
as a setting. I remember a lovely sunset. There were lovely buildings, the
oldest in the foreground. The oldest place in Canada but very backward. I was
sorry we didn't stop there and I never did.
To go back,
when I got off the ship at Halifax, I felt a sense of exhilaration, as if I had
shed a load of care from my shoulders. Looking back I
think it was the total freedom and the unconventionality of this country, one
filtered immediately. Another thing that always impressed me the blue skies,
glorious sunsets and clear visibility and the ability to see for miles and
miles. We had now got to the Prairie. There were many little towns and Hamlets.
I didn't sleep too well on the great lumbering trains,
they didn't go as fast as ours. Though huge, comfortable
and warm, one could walk about jerkily. One swayed with it. As I looked out and
saw, here and there a faint dim light on the great expanse, I thought
nostalgically, “What have I done, so far from home?” The excitement was dying
down a bit. The skies were cloudless and the stars
really like diamonds in the sky. There was never pitch darkness as in English
moonless nights.
Next we came to Winnipeg in Manitoba, the
first Prairie town. It was as clear as crystal, one could see miles and miles
of flat prairie. It was very treeless and the coldest place I'd ever
experienced, around zero. It is a large town, we spent
a day there and I was not much impressed. It was so crisp and dry and the ground was frozen. That evening we boarded
another train continuing west. I didn't sleep very well
and the towns were more sparse. At night the farmsteads looked lonely with dim
lights, it seemed so vast, lakes and forests. I had many I had misgivings many
times. In those days it was a long trundling journey and seemed slow. One got
so tired of the train also the heat, which was very necessary, had a prickling
sensation as one felt one wasn't dressed right for it. I guess I was too warmly
clad in tweeds.
From to
Saskatoon in Saskatchewan it was straight bald headed prairie
and very monotonous. From Montreal to Winnipeg there had been lakes and forests
all the way which had been more interesting. There was still snow on the ground but it wasn't too far to our destination, Trochu,
now. There was Moose Jaw and Regina, the latter the training centre of the
famous Canadian Mounted Police, with their black horses and smart uniforms of
redcoats. Lethbridge, another good service town. Martin kept on saying (the
weather had deteriorated from Winnipeg and was snowing and no sun), “Wait till
we get up to Alberta, it will be sunny there.”
When we arrived
at Edmonton, Alberta, which was 100 miles from Trochu, it was even snowing
more! Outside it was much colder, somewhere below zero and after the hot train
I found it very cold when we alighted. We changed trains at Edmonton and
boarded a smaller local train to Trochu. It was getting exciting now; thoughts
of seeing Kate
and family and brother George. Kate I had not seen for 25 years, George had been and over
on a visit. Peggy and Alf would be there. It was still snowing a little at Trochu
and I was a bit dismal. No one had been able to get to meet us and Martin got a
taxi. It was below zero and the roads were frozen hard. What a ride! Before we
started Martin had taken me to a hotel lounge to wait until he rustled up
transportation. I felt so strange. There were men sitting around and one spat
into a spittoon which rather disgusted me. They were dressed like working men
in overalls and windbreaks, no ties and had caps on. One of the men said there
was a nicer sitting room upstairs if I wished but I thanked him and said I was all
right. At last Martin arrived so he came on he had persuaded a taxi man to
drive us.
Two weeks
before, the weather had turned mild and the frozen
roads had thawed. They were dirt roads. Then it had frozen again leaving ruts
ever so deep. The taxi bounced around and I bounced in the car, hitting the top
sometimes. The driver was sympathetic and said, “I guess you never had a ride
like this?” Martin just laughed his head off! The driver said if he'd known how
bad the roads were he wouldn't have attempted it.
Well, we
finally got to Kate’s and it was quite a meeting after
so long. I was tired out not having slept much on the train and I knew I looked
awful. I had to meet Will and the children for the first time. After a bit Kate
said, “You were fair when I left home Grace.” and she sounded disappointed in
me. I didn't blame her, I did look a freak! After a
few days though I had blossomed out and looked like myself. It was so hot in Kate’s
house with all the heaters going full pelt. One could scarcely breathe. It was
very cold and frozen up outside. Kate looked wonderful, not a lot altered. She
had bobbed her hair and looked younger if anything. The children were 11, 9 and
7 years. Alf and Peggy were there and there was a great deal of chattering in
the next few days. Peggy and Alf both seem to be liking the country
but it was difficult to assess anyone's feelings.
I was thrilled
because it was such a total change from England. The weather was rather grey, blowing
snow for a few days, but it was warm and cosy indoors. Kate was busy and happy
to see us and we had wonderful meals. Dorothy, George
and Alfred Kinsey, K’s family were nice kids and very shy. Martin stayed one
night at K’s, next morning he was away to his own place getting ready and
warming up his shack (it was little more), for Peggy and Alf to go. P had her
own bedding so all was well. Though Kate would have us
all to stay, it relieved the congestion somewhat, it was only two to three
miles away. I forgot to say brother George also came to see us, but he went
back to Three Hills that night, about 20 miles away, it was a great family
party. I remember Martin explaining to me that the men sitting in the lounge of
the hotel were men of substance of the town, some etc. Nothing to write home
about the bare necessities.
My Life in
Canada
I went for a
buggy ride, borrowing Will’s buggy and horse. I had a blue woollen dress on.
This was May and it had warmed up considerably. The ‘gumbo’ (clay),
did splash and I never did completely get it off my dress. We started out to Three
Hills from Martin's shack joyously. A matter of 10 to 15 miles, I forget the
exact distance, most likely 10. Well I can tell you it
was a long way in a buggy in Canada. The altitude, 3,500 feet above sea level
affected one and there was a harsh, dry wind, though not cold. We were so new
to everything and had not acclimatised. It wasn't the soft mellow climate of
England. I remember we came back sleepy and washed out and very quiet. It was a
bit too far, for a start anyway! However, we had to learn the hard way. We were
what they called in Canada, “green Englishman”.
Martin and Alf
were busy scouring the country for land for Peggy and Alf and finally settled
for a farm at Huxley. There were more trees there, it was what they called
“park land”. Then house building began on the site and
they had a builder and Martin and Alf did the labouring part. I expect Martin
was experienced but not Alf. It was amazing how quickly they got it up and they
were soon in it, though a lot had to be done both inside and out at least they
were on their own. I stayed alternately between them and Kate for a month or
two and then I went to British Columbia. Kate had got in touch with the
Johnsons, Herbert and Evie, and I had been invited to
stay. Also some people in Trochu had asked me to call
and see their sister in Vancouver. Kate was against this idea, saying Vancouver
was a wicked city and I should on no count account go alone. However
I had different ideas and was sure I could take care of myself. Nevertheless I was a bit nervous being shy and of a
sensitive nature.
Visit to
British Columbia
However I set forth intending to visit these
people and look for a job eventually. It was June when I left the family in
Alberta. There was Mr and Mrs John Leng in Calgary. Kate had got in touch with
them, wasn't she busy! They were from Cleveland whom the elder ones in the
family knew and they met me at Calgary station and I
stayed that night with them. They were kindness itself. The next evening they saw me off the train to Vancouver and I got a
pressing invitation to go again whenever I returned. Calgary is 80 miles from
Banff in the Rocky Mountains. It was an impressive journey through the
mountains, 900 miles from Calgary to Vancouver. One had to have a sleeper. It
took all night on the train and all next day, till late evening to arrive.
After Banff it was soon dark but next morning I woke
up in not so much the granite towering Rockies as at Banff, but the tapering of
lesser ones and also beautifully green fir trees, densely covered.
It was much
warmer than ever in Alberta and as we neared Vancouver the hills diminished.
There were fields, villages, it looked more like England
and it was, though I would say the climatic conditions were more like the south
of France. It was so much warmer than England. Coming through the Rockies from
Banff the altitude was 6,000 feet and it looked very precarious (the train had
two engines), looking from the train to the valley below. Field was the highest
point and a stop there it felt heady, one felt the effects of the altitude,
must have been 7,000 feet there. After that we descended till
we got to sea level at Vancouver. The guard who came through the train
frequently seemed very friendly and I found him interesting to talk to about
the country etc. When we approached Vancouver I asked
him if he could recommend a nice hotel for me to stay and he told me of one
right opposite the station. I didn't like the look of it
and I met a lady, very English, and asked her if it was alright. She said, “Oh
no my dear, don't stay there.” She walked with me until we came to a YMCA. She
said that if you are alone and a stranger that is the best place. Another
impression. In England, 1928, one could have asked a Bobby or train people and
been assured of reliable advice, but not here apparently, though I never had
another experience like that in Canada, but I learned quick!
I had the
address of a lady whose sister I met in Calgary and a friend of Kate’s. Scots folk. I called and nothing would do but to stay with
them and they were most kind. I stayed a few days then went back to the YMCA
and looked for a job.
They all liked
people from the old land. They showed me Vancouver. At that time
it was a beautiful seaport city as it was said in huge letters strung up from
one side of the street to the other, “Vancouver spans the world”. One could see
it for miles on Granville Street. There were fascinating places on the
outskirts of what I thought a huge city. Today it is vast, all built up to such
an extent that there's hardly a blade of grass to be seen. There is Stanley
Park, what a glorious place, it was beautifully wooded and a tremendous
acreage, 1,000 acres. In the zoo was every animal and bird in the world, parks,
lakes, playgrounds, it had everything. I've only seen one to compare and that
was San Diego in USA. The colouring of the trees in the Fall was ravishing. I'd
never seen the like. There were many lovely suburbs and villages around Vancouver but they had all been taken into Vancouver in a
massive conglomeration of high rise apartments etc, too numerous to mention.
That is over the years. It was a lovely spot until about the 1960s.
I spent a
couple of weeks in Vancouver, then went to Victoria where I had been invited to
stay at the Johnsons, old friends from Guisborough. Eva had a shop conveniently
near Victoria, ladies wear, where she and her mother lived. Previous
to this visit I first went to Duncan, British Columbia, to stay with Mr Herbert
Johnson and his wife Evie, an awfully nice girl who was the daughter of a Mr Hind,
super of police at Northallerton. They had a poultry farm and I stayed with
them a month before I went to Mrs J and Eva. Being interested in poultry, I
enjoyed helping with all the work around. I found Herbert J a strange man. He
was spiteful and irritable and he took it out on his
wife. One day it was 100 degrees and over in the shade and he took it upon
himself to get up on the top of the hen house which needed repair, hammering
away, sweating, all hot and bothered and stayed there sweltering for hours. Evie
would go to bed with migraine headaches and no wonder. We got along so well, I
liked her. Herbert was the bugbear and could make it very uncomfortable.
Duncan, British
Columbia, was considered the hottest place in Canada. It jostled at the foot of
the forests. There were massive timber camps. H and Evie took me up many times
that I was very thrilled to see these massive trees being cut down and sawed up
with the latest machinery in the world. It was a busy little town, a lot of
wealthy people lived there, retired etc. Probably the assets of the timber.
There was also poultry, fruit and dairy farming. I was
a girl just left school when the Johnsons went to Canada and didn't understand
or know them well, so I had to find out, and did so with a vengeance! Next I went off to Courtney to stay with Mrs. J and Eva and
I got a very warm welcome. Eva had a ladies’ wear shop in Courtney, very
thriving business and a good sized shop. I got hold
right into it whether I wish to or not. I've never had such an experience. I
was hauled from pillar to post and we never stopped,
there was no peace till one went to bed. It was very hot but much cooler than
Duncan, being nearer to the sea.
I was allotted
to help Eva in the shop immediately. Mrs. J was up with the lark making tea
every morning without fail. She was over 80 years old. Then we hurried off to
the shop. Eva went earlier than me and I went at 8 am. Sometimes I would go
into a cafe for a cup of tea or an ice cream, just to sit there for a few
minutes on my own. I was sleepy all the time as going from the high altitude in
Alberta to sea level in British Columbia took a lot of adjusting to. I could
scarcely keep my eyes open. The best of it was, Eva had a car. The moment we
got home in the evenings, Mrs Johnson was waiting with a picnic tea and we got in and went off to the beach as they said,
parked the car right in front of the water, I believe it was a lake. Once we
had our tea we just sat in the car till dusk and time to go and hopefully to
bed. I had been warned by H and Evie what it would be like at Courtney, and how
true it was. I must say they were all kindness itself to me and all wanted to
stay with me to stay with them. Eva soon offered me a job in the shop, I must
have stayed about six weeks. I went on till I was nearly dead.
Eva said I
could even become a partner in her business. I knew I could never live with
people like that, it was impossible. Actually Mrs J
was a positive slave driver. Of course they didn't
like it when I wouldn't, but I know I earned my keep and I was glad to do it.
It was hard for me to refuse, they were done and nice.
I never went back to Courtney. I went to Duncan again after leaving Courtney
and started to look for a job at Queen Margaret school as matron and was there
only a few months. From there I went to Huxley to Alf’s when Martin was born.
Incidentally
both the Herbert Johnsons and Eva changed their attitude to me because I
wouldn't stay among them. I tried to be the same but
they wouldn't alter so I gradually saw less of them with Herbert and Evie. I
met s nice couple of friends of theirs, a very well educated
English woman, a nurse, a travelled woman who had married a lumberjack, a very
fine man but quite uneducated, so different. They kept up a friendship with me
and of course H and Evie resented that and would not ask me to visit which
upset me, it was so petty and small. I was disappointed in Evie because I
really liked her. These two other people were very normal and very kind to me.
I was most interested in the lumber mills and they
took me around a lot. They lived not far from the private girls’ school where I
got where I had a job, St. Margaret's.
The school at
Duncan was affiliated to Queen Margaret School at Scarborough, England, hence
the name. At Duncan the heat was intense during the day and the nights were
warm. I can remember being impressed by the stars at night, diamonds in an
indigo sky. They seemed to come closer. The visibility was as clear as crystal
above the town and into the forests. It was one of the sights that impressed me and I've never forgotten. I love to go outside and walk
around warm evenings, it's a wonder I never met a bear because they came down
from the mountains to invade the garbage cans. We were that close to them. It
was the same at Banff, Alberta.
In winter in Vancouver it was traditional that it rained all winter. I
was told in Alberta that it rained so hard in winter that it bounced back a
foot or so. This I didn't believe but when I stayed there over winter I found that it was true. The winters were wet at
both Vancouver and British Columbia, very like England in temperature. I was
often homesick, but meeting different people and nationalities, scenery,
customs, Indians and timber lands, which greatly
interested me, kept my mind occupied and I never dwelt on it much, but it was
always at the back of my mind - homesickness.
1929
When I was at
Duncan in January 1929, Martin
Junior was born and my brother Martin phoned from Huxley for Peggy and Alf
to ask if I would go and help them out as neither had experience with babies
and me having so much at Tancred. “Yes”, I said, “I will come right away, if I
can get leave of my job.” I made up a good story and they let me go next week.
I was overjoyed to get back to my own folk for a bit. I had not yet got a warm
winter coat as British Columbia was milder than Alberta. I had only a thin coat
I had bought I had brought to Canada from England. I had no rubbers which
everyone had to wear against it's cold in Alberta. First of all
there was some delay on the railway and the train was very late at Calgary,
around 2 am I had travelled with such nice people from Bavaria and Serbia which
triggered off the First World War. She was telling me all the terrible things
that happened in that little country. I found it quite interesting.
After several
hours delay we finally arrived in Calgary, there was a
nice quiet hotel opposite the station which I knew. This lady and I preceded to
it and we stayed the night. Unfortunately
there was only one double room left, which meant two beds, but we accepted it.
Upon settling in I notice this person looking at me searchingly. When we got
into bed she was clutching her handbag. I at once
realised that she was wondering if she could trust me. I honestly had never had
any such thoughts of her. I was, if anything, too trusting. But I immediately
wondered about her and I put my handbag in bed with
me. However nothing happened and all was well next
morning. We had breakfast together next morning and went our own ways quite act
amicably.
I boarded the
train for Huxley at 10 am and arrived at about 3 pm. Although only 80 miles, it
was a slow journey in those days. Afterwards we got diesel engines which were
quicker. It was very cold in Calgary and I had no
rubbers on my feet crossing from the hotel. I got my heel caught in the track
and the train man came over to me and asked me where I was going. He said I
wasn't warmly enough clad and I should have rubbers.
He wanted to know if I was being met etc. When I assured him
I was being met and would be ok, he put beyond the train and said that in that
case I would be warm on the train. He was most kind and I was amused. They have
to look after us out here, we are what is known as ‘green Englishmen’ and it was true too. When I got to Huxley there was Alf on
the platform with Peggy’s Aquascutum by now lined with fur, so I was ok. I'm
sure the temperature was 50 below zero.
It was great to
be back with them all again. Peggy and Alf had their house so hot. Martin Junior
was just a month or so old and they were afraid of him getting cold. The sides
of the heater were red hot with heat. I wonder there wasn't a fire! Martin was
there also and I guess he knew how to bank a fire at
night time. I was roasted. The heat was hard to get used to, I felt prickly all
over.
1929 was very
cold in Alberta. It was said it got to 60 below zero, which is very cold
indeed. In my 40 years in Canada I never knew a winter
so cold. 20 or 30 below was normal. In one page I mentioned the Chinook which
occurs during the winter. Warm winds from the Pacific blow through the
mountains from British Columbia to Alberta. When Dorothy Drake was staying with
me in 1965 in Canada it happened. It was 40 below zero when we went to bed and
during the night we had to throw off the bed clothes.
I remember saying to Dorothy I was glad she had experienced this as I always
felt no one believed me in England. It was a welcome change and we rejoiced in
it.
Sadly the journal ends at this point.