Ruth’s Diary

Again to the American Express – where we got mail – changed money. Then Elsie, Dot, Helen, & I went to buy a bicycle for a friend of Dot. They stayed longer shopping than I wanted to so I went on by myself – took a tram & sat way up on the top down to the British museum. As I had just missed a conducted tour – I walked past the high Holbum street & saw shops – of the Georgian Victoria & period. I located Dickens house on Doughty Street, had lunch & returned to the museum. I had an excellent guide who made the tour very, very interesting – with subtle humor, wit, & anecdotes. (I will insert my notes on this tour later. It was now time to return to the hostel. Here we had dinner & got late passes as Helen wanted to look up an aunt. We took a tram out to Clopham Common & with little difficulty located the. We had a very pleasant evening with the with some excellent port wine served. Helen’s aunt & cousin were a little upset as this was the beginning of a European crisis. They both had lived in the U.S. for many years, in fact Texan was born there & had gone to school there. Somehow they had failed, or rather, the mother & father had failed to become naturalized & had overstayed their leave. This is the date of the pact between Germany & Russia – something I never dreamed would happen. & something that was to have severe repercussions – the extent of which we don’t yet know. (August 27, 1939) England since her frightful scare in September has been frantically preparing. It was quite a shock to me as we rode in to London – backward after backward all dug up & its mound of earth that was to provide shelter in case of air raids – the parks too were like this.