'A Grandfather's Tale: Memoirs being mainly concerned with service in the Indian Army and the Indian Political Service in India and the Persian Gulf from 1932-1947' [‎51v] (102/118)

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on the launch we left the children in cnarge of the two grannies in the
garden to bathe in the tank, while we others went off, in our bathing suits,
to explore- We found a good bathing place but had to be very wary of the afldeventua
sharp coral, only the Pettigrews had had the wit to bring tennis shoes.
should s
There had been a low tide in the morning, and we had had to go far out
from the shore to avoid the reefs, but after tea on ^^ci we left for home, and iarelyP ^ 3
with a high tide were able to keep closer in shore ano. made a much quicker
passage. Altogether it was a very good day "away from it all". The only snag Earl
was that Jane and I had to go out to dinner that night and play bridge, and ^jen whio
both narrowly escaped falling to sleep over the bridge table. iajsvithl
«e returnee
Two days later Neal Pelly gave a birthday party aboard the native built ^Elizabf
craft which he had recently acquired for the Agency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent. . This was about fifty feet !;«local
long, with an auxiliary engine, but rigged--as a dhow A term adopted by British officials to refer to local sailing vessels in the western Indian Ocean. , and was large enough to to the hi
be sailed down to the Trucial Coast A name used by Britain from the nineteenth century to 1971 to refer to the present-day United Arab Emirates. from Bahrain. There were about twenty of tiae^u
us aboard plus two or three Arab crew, and we left the customs jetty at about (erenow f
8 p.m. under power, and as soon as we were out of the harbour hoisted sail and ley were
dispensed with the engine. It was a bright moonlight night with a sufficiently 50 later,
strong breeze to keep us going nicely without it being too cold or choppy. I tyagreein
had been appointed navigator, as- Neal was fully occupied with his guests, and
I sailed the boat out to an artificial island, where we spent some time at
anchor and then back to the jetty by midnight. There were rugs and cushions ^
aft, under an awning, and plenty of good cold food and drink, plus some Mrarl
pleasantly unobtrusive music from the gramophone. It really was an ideal tHdead,
nautical picnic in a near perfect setting. trowel ani
no a litt
On Friday 11th April 19^-7 we had the Spring Meeting of the races at
which I was a steward and also chief judge. The Sheikh and the Resident,
Mrs. Hay and Neal Pelly and various other people including Jane were present r- 5 / w
and an enormous crowd of Arabs. All went well until the last race in which
Mary Hay was taking part. She had ridden a good deal in Quetta but on this
occasion she was the only woman and the only European riding. As the field ^
rounded the final bend she took the lead and seemed set for victory when ”‘, asi J a
suddenly she swayed in the saddle and went right over her horse’s head, and
three other horses appeared to gallop over her, while she lay quite still on
her face. There was a tremendous commotion but luckily there were two nurses ,,
from the Government Hospital present and an ambulance was at hand, and soon “ illtenai
after they had got her into it she began to recover consciousness. By this " ewasa
time the Doctor had arrived and found she had no bones broken though she was ---■ct
badly bruised and suffering from slight concussion. The accident was due to
her saddle slipping owing to a defective girth. Happily she recovered ^ m ‘
completely within a few days, and was determined to ride again as soon as she f ulser
was allowed, but I was glad that no more meetings were scheduled in the near ••• e Adnii
future, as I was not too sanguine about a girl of twenty competing amidst a ? ar ty oi
horde of not very experienced Arab jockeys.
party 0 ]
By this time the weather was getting fairly hot and sticky, and hat
swimming parties and bathing picnics were the most popular forms of amusement, any Con «
both for the children and grown-ups. I continued to swot at my Arabic and ‘acall
as tact
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