Absolutely astounding

 Saturday, December 12th., Hotel Belvedere, Vevey, Switzerland.

Our train for Switzerland was the Paris-Simplon day express. Very English. Chiefly Englishwomen. Their lack of charm was astounding, absolutely astounding. And their aristocratic, self-absorbed voices made me laugh. The English self-consciousness of 'superiority' is sublime in its profound instructiveness. Vevey was quite dry when we arrived. Rain everywhere alse. A different climate, a sort of micro-climate perhaps? I bought a Swiss cigar, and we got into a tiny Swiss tram. Had a Swiss feeling which was much intensified when, in the waiting room of the funicular, we found a vast musical box which I caused to play for 10 centimes. Really a rather good device, especially when you have 45 minutes to wait.

In Dijon, en route, we had an excellent steam-heated room in a hotel which was otherwise not well kept. Rained all the time we were there. I walked about, the town consisting of mainly confectioners and gingerbread makers. Trams floating about rumblingly and ramblingly all the time. I got as far as the portals of an 'Alcazar' music-hall, and then came back to the hotel and tried to read Huxley in bed. Couldn't. It is only at night, when there is little of it, that you appreciate how much light there is when there is supposed to be none. At 3 am. you can discover traces of it everywhere, and it has a very beautiful quality.

Marguerite tells me, a propos a problematic family relationship, that it is a weakness of mine not to admit that I am wrong. She refers to a solemn vow I made with myself never again in this life to have to do with a close relative of hers, a person I have come to loathe and detest. Evidently he would like to 'make friends' with me. Never! She believes that the inability to say "I was wrong", is a sign of weakness; I think the opposite. Most people who say it say it impulsively, and are undoubtedly not only weak but capricious also in their judgements. It has got to be said very rarely, and with complete absence of theatricality. For my part I could never bring myself to reconcile with someone I had with proper consideration cast out of my life. It would be sham and sheer hypocrisy.