1st April 1913

Today was forecast to be wet and windy so a good day to tidy-up family archives. There is much to go through. This note from the Hotel De Dieppe is a fascinating insight into a life and time long gone.

On the hotel notepaper my grandmother kept a descriptive note of a visit to France in April 1913, unfortunately only one page has survived.

It appears she and a friend were on a visit to Rouen to attend a French language school. The narrative is very much that of a young English teenager just before the First World War.

In it she describes in detail her daily activities from dining to attendance at the school and walks in the evening.

She observed people, particularly at meal times and notes one gentlemen dining alone ordered two eggs cooked in butter.

On another occasion the girls were talking in English and commenting on the appearance and mannerisms of their fellow diners. Towards the end of the meal they learned to their great embarrassment that the guests they were making fun of actually spoke and understood English!