At work as usual. Spent most of the day in writing out copies1 of the 1st & 2nd over again and didn’t finish until late. In bad temper about it. Tired at night. Played a bit and went out.
Possibly to replace the bad copies from the copying machine? ↩
Had trouble at work through the copies being bad1. Wrote to Ernie at night and played the piano. A good deal of excitement about the prospects of the shop.
“Copies being bad”: Possibly as a result of yesterday’s problem with the copying machine? ↩
Busy at work. Had trouble with copying machine1. Put in a drill at night and had the guns2 out.
It would be interesting to know what the copying machine was (possibly a mimeograph?), and what it was used for. Letters etc were typed with carbon paper copies, and old ink transfer copies of handwritten letters would have been obsolete by this date. ↩
“The guns” would no doubt be dummies for drill purposes. ↩
Busy at work. Choir practice at night. Received word that the shop can’t be occupied for another week.
At work as usual. Busy all day. Received letter from Ernie and one from Isaac1. Stayed in at night and read and looked up Pelman2. Walked out last thing. Another big British ship sunk by a German submarine in the English Channel3. Meeting in the Thornhill Hall of the athletes. Joe went but didn’t stay to the finish.
Isaac: see footnote to entry on 12 October 1914. ↩
Pelman: See 6 January 1914. ↩
It is not clear to which “big British ship” ALL may have been referring here. Three merchant ships (SS Ikaria, SS Tokomaru and SS Oriole) had been sunk by U-20 in the English channel (near Le Havre) on 30 January 1915 and U-20 also fired a torpedo at the hospital ship Asturias on 1 February. The latter attack failed when the torpedo missed its mark. Wikipedia notes these events briefly at this page. U-20 was later better known as the submarine which sunk Lusitania. ↩
At work as usual1. Finished shortly before 2 o’clock. Went round with Charlie and called at Whittakers in the afternoon and arranged to go to the King’s Theatre directly†. Went to the King’s Theatre and heard “Il Trovatore”. It was very good though I didn’t like it so well as Wednesday night’s piece2.
Saturday morning working was of course normal – as it remained until the 1960s. ↩
Wednesday night’s piece: See 27 January. ↩
At work as usual. Very busy all day. Wrote to Ernie and went out last thing. Read a bit. A good deal of excitement about the business.
At work as usual. Went down to the chapel at night to the General Church Meeting. The speakers were Reverend John Moore†, Dr Baker and another chap. We were very late. Charlie sang “Lord God of Abram”. Refreshments served out. Spent the whole night there.
At work as usual. Busy all day. Went to the opera at night and enjoyed it immensely. Saw Aida at the King’s Theatre. The principals were Miss Doris Weddill, and Miss Dora Gibson. The piece was very good indeed and well staged. A lot of excitement about the moving prospects.
At work as usual. Went down to practice at night. Mother went to see about a shop in Eldon Street, Chester Road, and interviewed a woman about a [sic] shop. We decided to take it.
Decided to take shop & house in Eldon Street1.
Eldon Street runs north from Chester Road (the road to Chester‐le‐Street), just E. of the General Hospital, in Bishopwearmouth (what is now Sunderland consisted of Monkwearmouth and Sunderland, north and south respectively at the mouth of the Wear, and Bishopwearmouth on the S. side of the river, about 1 mile W. of Sunderland; see eg. Meikle & Newman Sunderland and its Origins, Victoria County History publications 2007.) At the start of the diaries, January 1914, C.W.Linfoot and his family had lived at 4 Salem Hill South, towards the SW. edge of Sunderland. ↩