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Page 205 from Ethel Moir Diary, Vol 1

Moir, Ethel, 1916, Document
Page 205 from Ethel Moir Diary, Vol 1
Page 205 from Ethel Moir Diary, Vol 1
Page 205 from Ethel Moir Diary, Vol 1
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Library Item
Item no
25233
Title
Page 205 from Ethel Moir Diary, Vol 1
Description
"Butter week is just past - it is the week before Lent starts & during this week, no meat is eaten, just butter & eggs & such diet. A feature of butter-week are "blinnies" ["blinis"] - a sort of pancake eaten with sour cream (schmitáni) ([smetana]), melted butter & caviare [caviar]. They are very thin & 20 is an average to eat at one "sitting"!
This afternoon we were at the "Narodny Dorn" or People's Palace, which is patronised chiefly by the lower classes. There are spacious grounds, miniature railways & all sorts of side-shows & in the very centre an enormous theatre with sitting accommodation for 4,000.
What strikes one here very much are the number of uniforms one sees. Everybody seems to wear them; not the military only, but
civil officials & students, even schoolboys, big & little. And another conspicuous person is a the Russian nurse. She is a gorgeous creature! When her charge is a boy her attire is blue, in the case of a girl it is pink, over this is thrown a white
mantle, richly oramented [ornamented] with silver tassels, & on her head is worn a diamond-shaped "kok?shnik" (bonnet) adorned
with imitation pearls, with beads & silver braid.
The chances of this letter getting through are microscopic! Our chances are too, I'm "beginning" to think, especially now that things are so very unsettled in Petrograd itself & all the riots on etc:./
Artist / maker
Date
1916
Size
20.4 x 16.0 cm
Type
Location
Edinburgh and Scottish Collection