Intense cold

 Sunday, February 7th., Hotel Matignon, Paris.

According to newspaper reports it is colder here than it is in London, but here we are so we shall have to make the best of it. I can well believe the reports. About the cold the word 'intense' can safely be used. There is a strong wind from the east, what a friend of mine used to call a 'lazy wind' because it went through you rather than round you. It was like this occasionally in Thorpe, but you don't really expect it in the middle of a big city.

Arrived here yesterday and went to a play last night. I warned Dorothy how it would be - theatre dirty, theatre packed, theatre entirely unventilated - and it was. Happily the play was good. But a play which lasts from 8.45 to midnight is thirty minutes too long for me. Dorothy doesn't seem to be able to get enough theatre. For my part I often think that if I see one more play in this lifetime, it will be one too many. 

Haven't done much today apart from a light lunch for Madame Andre Maurois and Jean Aubry. Maurois himself couldn't come as he is lecturing in Lyons. I said that anybody who went to a place like Lyons deserved all the consequences thereof. He agreed. But I bet it is warmer there. We did walk out briefly after lunch. To go forth into the streets at present is quite an adventure. Most of the girls run, or at least scuttle, and there are public braziers lighted in various places so that passers-by can warm themselves. That is a nice touch I think. There are fewer people in Paris than usual which is excellent. I don't think it was ever this cold during the time I lived here. I had considered walking down to the Rue de Calais, just to look at my old haunt, but I thought better of it. It is not usually a good idea to revisit places in my experience.

This hotel is decidedly good. And cheap! We have two bedrooms, one private bathroom and a cabinet de toilette for 22s. a day. The food could be better but I intend to eat as much as I can. More theatre tomorrow I expect but I hope to renew acquaintance with a few old friends at least.