July 6th Saturday

To Viña Vieja at 10 a.m., where cart: told them to pack up. Took two cartloads to Posada where the kitchen & bathroom were finishing & stones being laid in comedor [sic: comidor] 1 (not enough of my small stones: had to use old big[RG]ones). Back at 12.30. Then to Viña again at 2. Two more loads finished the job. Masons finished inside by 5 o'clock except a few touches. Shelves put up. Pepe cut curtain rod for entrada2. (Viñas had lunch at café. Gordon & Mary to sea, Honor only came up.) Laura there at 3 with Catalina, Isabel & Josepha. We put things in proper rooms, hung up pictures, mirrors etc – reassembled beds. Nothing left at Viña except blankets of Madora [sic: Medora]'s & electric light bulbs. Nothing broken in transit, but accident to Catalina's nephew whose kidneys were injured in a bicycle fall among the mandarin-trees near the fonda, getting tiles. Plumber & electrician to come Monday. Antonio the Murcian to finish the balls3 tomorrow morning. The wall of the mina4 is finished but the mina itself is not done & the garden and front are in a mess. The kitchen has the only guillotine windows, I think, in Deyá. (No, two more)
Supper, all, at Fonda.
First day we have had an ice-chest in use.

Editorial Notes

1dining room. KG
2hall. KG
3probably refers to round pebbles for paving: "bollas" in Mallorquin. KG
4passage way. KG

Hands Referenced

    • Annotation: ink correction
    • Character: regular
    • Ink: black

Places Mentioned

  • Posada, La

    Deyá, Majorca, Sp
    House on the Puig next to Deyá church. Originally part of the Es Molí property. It had been rented by the church for Sunday school. RG and LR bought it in February, 1935, to use as a guest house for their visitors. WG, eds.

  • Viña Vieja

    Deyá, Majorca, Sp
    Name of group of houses behind the Fábrica, of which Can Gelat was one. When the Glovers were staying in the house they were called the "Viñas". WG

  • Fonda

    Deyá, Majorca, Sp
    Inn next to Margarita's Café. Occasionally ate there. WG

  • Deyá

    Deyá, Majorca, Sp
    Town located on the northwest coast of Majorca, on the hillside between the Teix Mountains and the sea: this was RG's home with Laura Riding from 1929 to 1936. He returned there with his family after WW II. Eds.

People Mentioned

  • Laura

    Riding, Laura
    (1901-91) American poet. Laura Riding (née Reichenthal; then Laura Gottschalk).

  • Pepe

    Salas, José
    Master builder. Built Canellun. Pepe is a diminutive of José. WG

  • Honor

    Wyatt, Honor
    Journalist. Arrived in Deyá fortuitously. Married to Gordon Glover...Son Julian. W.G. First acquainted with R.G. and L.R. early in 1934; returned to visit in 1935; continued friendship in England. eds (RPG 211).

  • Gordon

    Glover, Gordon
    Married to Honor Wyatt. WG

  • Mary

    Phillips, Mary
    Visitor. Typed most of I, Claudius. Later married James Reeves. WG

  • Catalina

    Catalina
    Domestic help. Called in for white-washing, etc. WG

  • Isabella

    Isabel
    Live-in maid from Murcia. Her mother (Carmen) then came over with Josefa who also came to work later. WG

  • Josepha

    Josefa
    Maid from mainland. In the text R.G. spells it the English way: Josepha. W.G. She is a daughter of the Murcians Antonio and Carmen; sister of Isabel. eds.

  • Madora

    Marroig Más, Madora
    Gelat's wife. W.G. R.G. often spells her first name "Medora," and precedes it with "the." eds.

  • Antonio the Murcian

    Antonio
    Antonio and his wife Carmen, parents of Paco, who worked as a mason, and the servant girls Isabel and Josefa, were immigrants from Murcia, a province in Spain. W.G. & eds.