And all this to take the place of hard work. Well, it is to come. Bless everybody!
After the Holidays (a Retrospect)
What can be worse than packing? And after all the trouble of shoving things in anywhere, you find you have left half your belongings behind! And of course the books you half read during your weary travels are stopped at the Custom House.
Beastly journey from Paris to Calais, and as for the crossing afterwards—well, as long as I live I shall never forget it!
Dear Paris! Emphatically "dear," with the accent on the expense. Glad to be out of it. Boulevards deserted. Theatres playing "relâche." Cafés deathtraps in the service of the influenza.
En route! Who cares for Switzerland—always the same! Eternal mountains—yet coming up promising year after year! Sloppy passes, misty views. Beastly monotonous. The Cantons played out.
Italy! Who says Italy? Blue sky not equal to Wandsworth. Rome unhealthy. Art treasures at Florence not equal to collection in South Kensington. Mosquitoes at Venice.
And the people! Cheeky French, swindling Swiss, and dirty Italians!
And yet this is all to be supplemented by the same hard work. In the collar again. Oh! hang everybody!