Last week Ursula Frank & I went to Tintagel, with the Drews from St Stephens. We stayed there four days at King Arthur’s hotel. We had a lovely time, Beijing & walking along the cliffs & thoroughly enjoyed ourselves, although the weather was not always fine.

Dorothea Lethbridge came back with us & stayed until Thursday, Mr and Mrs Willey Gibbs have also been here.

Ursula left for Wimbledon today. Saddened leaving, especially as it is a lovely day. Juliana she has left here for August as it is too hot in Wimb. For her just now.

In the meantime the war goes on.

Fierce fighting on the Western front with tremendous artillery action more & more men killed & no site of the end, three years now, & so far as we can judge, nothing gained. In this faraway corner of the world, we are rather in the position of people looking on, we hear very little & are not in touch with anyone really in the know of things.

One bright spot seems to be the talk of this conference at Stockholm of the Socialist delegates, of all the different countries that are fighting. Perhaps they might find a way out of the difficulty. Certainly it seems to me that fighting will never end it, although we have been told that the German army will collapse in Sept, just at present it does not seem like it.

Father goes on improving, & gets about easier on his crutches. He has taken the morning service several times. The first Sunday he did it, he had to be carried in, & put upon a stool placed in the reading desk, it was very tiring for him but he got through it wonderfully.

He drives himself about in a little old pony carriage which grandfather used to use, & which had laid by the 45 years though when given a coat of paint and a little oil was quite fit for use again.

Yesterday evening after tea he went off with a crowd of grandchildren. Juliana & Philippa in the carriage with him Elizabeth leading the pony & Nicholas standing up behind on the springs.

They went all the way to the Lodge with him. That afternoon I took father to Milton in Arthur’s car, driving it myself. Arthur has given me instructions, & I have got on fairly well it is an easy car to drive, whilst we were waiting outside the post office who should go by but Jack Trelawney. We hailed him & had a chat, he was on government business, driving from Exeter to Launceston.