Lawrence is well stocked up with vino, but the weather is as ‘dismal as Hades.’ Perhaps it's time for another adventure...
Lawrence ends up in bed for six days with ‘flu’ that gives him a ‘bronchial haemorrhage’. The weather isn’t helping his mood either. It has rained for nearly three weeks and is as ‘dismal as Hades’. At least he’s well stocked-up with vino: ‘I’ve got thirty bottles of the red, and twenty of the white, 1920 vintage, of this garden’ but ‘it’s not nice…on the over-dry side.’
Lawrence’s sister and Frieda’s two daughters visit at the same time. This inevitably leads to arguments. But as one of Frieda’s daughters ‘is a trained typist,’ Lawrence wastes no time in utilising her skills.
He escorts his sister to Monte Carlo before her return to Blighty. It has ‘romantic scenery’ but is full of ‘weary, weary people walking about.’ Then it’s off to Nice where he ‘sat on the beach all the afternoon – still and sunny – then had a cup of tea.’ Never one to sit still for long, Lawrence begins planning an excursion. On the night of the 25 February it was either Bormes or Florence. By morning he declares ‘I’m going to Capri for a bit’ where a certain Dorothy Brett awaits him...
These video essays are based on the letters of D.H. Lawrence one hundred years ago and are published monthly. To see previous Locating Lawrence videos from 1926, click here, from 1923, click here, from 1924, click here, from 1925, click here.
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