Saturday 12th February 1938

After Pat and I had been to the Pictures we went (9:30p.m.) out to supper, at The Oasis. Full moon and a gale. The invalid Zephyr staggered into the teeth of the wind. 25-30-25 (flat out). Flood water across the road at Battlesbridge. Near Bicknacre, in a winding downhill lane through woods, we suddenly saw water ahead. I knew the place; it was a rough ford which looked like floods. I slammed on the handbrake, stopped the car at the brink of the water. Pat did not scream or say “Oo-er!” or clutch my arm, or clutch anything. She just said “Hm” – when the car had stopped.

Pat liked The Oasis. (“Like that roadhouse in “Petrified Forest.”) We started back at midnight. It was -