18th August 1940

This afternoon I drove Mrs. Parrington over to Mr. A’s at Dedham, where we had tea. Molly went badly, and I was very unhappy driving her. This Mr. A seems to have been a police commissioner in Egypt, and having been very favourable towards Fascism until war began is now all revolutionary, and regards Col. Tom Wintringham, the Communist, as one of the coming men of this country. He is a very pleasant man, with a good fund of stories, although his bloodthirsty theories sound rather nonsense to me. We admired the gardens, ate loganberries, admired the puppy, picked plums. While we were there we could hear sirens blowing at Colchester, but in due course harnessed Molly and drove away. Finally reached home in a light shower, after one or two very narrow escapes in Pond Lane, Dedham, when meeting cars. I am now very tired of Molly.