23 April 1914; Thursday

April 1914, , , ,

Got up about 7.45. Busy all day at work. Finished about 5.30. Spent night at chapel Choosing Anniversary hymns. Ralph Hunter, Blaikie, Willie, Charlie and Mr Lawson there. America at War with Mexico1.

  1. “America at War . .”: during the Mexican Revolution, on 9 April 1914 nine US marines had been arrested in Tampico (the “Tampico Affair”), and in worsening relations, on 21 April the US Navy seized Veracruz, initially without violence, but semi-guerrilla fighting developed. Better relations were eventually restored (with the ‘Constitutional’ government of Carranza), but Veracruz remained in US occupation until 23 November 1914. ↩

22 April 1914; Wednesday

April 1914,

Got up about 7.45. Not much to do at work first thing. Fine day. Finished in good time. Played a little. Wrote for job at a Pallion engineering office1. Walked out last thing. Sent away football coupons2.

  1. Pallion (if correct): district at W. edge of town, on S. bank of Wear; Short Bros. shipyard was there. ↩

  2. “Football coupons” seems fairly clear in the shorthand, but I don’t know what it means; it would not have been football pools. (DL)  ↩

21 April 1914; Tuesday

April 1914, , ,

Got up shortly before 6 o’clock. Went for ride1 with Alf first thing. Went up Lady Byron’s Walk and back up the Stockton Road. Fine morning. Finished early at night. Played and read a bit. Went down and saw Mrs Scott about her son who has joined the Sunday School, and talked to her a good bit. Went to choir practice and it was rotten.

Charlie had a tooth out. Joe had his moustache shaved off.

Discussed choir practice for * Monday.

  1. “Ride” would of course be a cycle-­ride. There are a Byron Road & a Byron Street in Sunderland, but N. of the river; Lord Byron’s wife was Annabella Milbanke, of Seaham, so Lady Byron’s Walk (if correct) may have been in or near Seaham Harbour. ↩

17 April 1914; Friday

April 1914,

Got up about 7.45. A bit off form. Finished about 6 o’clock. Walked up Durham Road with Charlie. Got first 5 copies of the “History of the Nations” published by Hutchinson. They are very good. Commenced to take in “History of the Nations.”1 Went to bed about 11 o’clock. Received Pelman2 paper number 11.

  1. History of the Nations: see note on 11 April. ↩

  2. Pelman: see note on 6 January. ↩

16 April 1914; Thursday

April 1914, ,

Got up at 7 o’clock. Grand morning. Not very well. Easy1 day. Finished at 5 o’clock. Played the piano a bit. Read. Called at the dock at dinner time for father’s compensation money. Pupil came at night and I stayed with him. Wrote to Ernie and posted it last thing. Went to bed about 11 o’clock. Felt a bit dizzy.

  1. Illustrating the difficulties of transcription: ALL’s usual entry was “Busy day”, but the “b” and “s” strokes sometimes, as here, run together into almost a single arc: “s”. Elsewhere only a dot for the final vowel, after the stroke, is marked, though there should also be a dot before the stroke, for the first vowel; here, exceptionally, a first vowel is clearly marked, and for this reason, together with the ambiguity of the curved stroke and the fairly early finish at 5.00, I have transcribed the word as “easy”. (DL)  ↩