On the following morning we bought snow boots. – for said the mouse, – ‘If I’m to freeze for three hours on the road again, – at least I’ll have warm feet.’ — Mr Lillywhite of Piccadilly produced the finest pair of woolly lined boots you ever saw and we started once more on our journey.
Staines, Camberley, Basingstoke, and Winchester, with their small shops and markets bursting with Christmas Fare, – Candles and Trees and Tinsel and glass balls – Turkeys and Puddings and Holly and Mistletoe. — Our spirits rose!
The sun was shining.
At Romsey we halted for lunch. –
Now Romsey has never boasted much in Inns – but here we first felt that first depression of spirit that was to cloud for all time that bright vision of ye olde MERRIE XMAS!!
I forget what we ate, – but I remember there was a small and smoky fire in the dreary dining room of the “White Horse”. There was a dusty sprig of holly in two ancient and very ugly vases on an even dustier mantelpiece, and the tablecloth showed traces of hastily consumed meals!
The road south from Romsey however, was so lovely, it wiped out the memory, and in Lyndhurst, Brockenhurst and Milford, – our spirits rose again.
Through Christchurch to Wimborne Minster, which is an old town that I like. There is little to see, but the Minster, – the shops have little to recommend them, but there is a pleasant homely atmosphere about the place. Unfortunately accommodation is not good, and it was not until we reached Blandford – both by now a little tired, that our thoughts turned to our nights lodging.
Dusk was upon us.
There was only the Crown Hotel.
Blandford
There was a large comfortable lounge. – There were rather a lot of people. – There was no large open hearth — but there was a bright fire. We had a good dinner. – We came to rest in two comfortable and clean beds.
—