Thursday 11 May 1665
Up betimes, and at the office all the morning. At home dined, and then to the office all day till late at night, and then home to supper, weary with business, and to bed.
Daily entries from the 17th century London diary
Up betimes, and at the office all the morning. At home dined, and then to the office all day till late at night, and then home to supper, weary with business, and to bed.
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14 Annotations
First Reading
Nate • Link
Time appeared to pass so slowly and now it's jack rabbiting.
Miss Ann • Link
Sam appears to be having my day, except the dining at home in the middle of the day part. The working late into the night is very familiar together with the weariness -- I feel we are experiencing the exact same work day. Let's hope it gets better for all of us.
Carl in Boston • Link
Not every meal is momentous. Sometimes the only thing that happens is we get fed. I think we all need a glass of sexy wine.
Robert Gertz • Link
It is interesting that for all the talk of our speeded-up era, Sam seems to carry an equal burden in his...And his great advantage, having the office so close to home only increases his load just as all our wonderful gadgets-cell phone, etc tend to suck up more rather than less of our leisure. I'll hope that I'm right about Bess spending more unacknowledged and underappreciated time with him in the office than we can judge from his comments.
Todd Bernhardt • Link
What, no mention of Mom today?
Res Ipsa • Link
Robert G makes a good point. But, the added advantage Sam seems to have over us is that his working hours are more flexible -- albeit many Saturdays & Sundays, too.
Phil • Link
Todd I agree, I'm thinking these short, short diary entries are fill-ins - Sam wrote them later in the week/month catching up on his diary entries. He seems to be in a very busy period and maybe it is because his mother is with him that daily diary entries are abandoned for the moment.
Like you, I find it odd he does not mention either his mom or the news his mom would bring from the country. There is nothing like a visit from your mom to bring you up to date on all the people you left behind in your youth especially that girl she expected you marry or that other mothers son who did take up that profession mom told you to take. And moms always have concerns on your health and why no grandchildren etc. If Sam did make this entry at night before he went to bed, it is more than suspicious that there is no mention of his mom.
Pedro • Link
“There is nothing like a visit from your mom…”
Sam’s comment yesterday…“and doating again in her discourse, through age and some trouble in her family.”
Phil’s description sounds just like that of a doating mother’s visit, if doating in the sense of “childish of old age, or to show excessive love”.
Sam would have no time to listen to that kind of talk would he!
Terry Foreman • Link
Has there been a maternal visit like this one before? I assume Margaret Pepys is spending her time with Elizabeth and a friend or two, and can go out and about as she will. Samuel is busier than ever, now that the war is on and he has three or four full-time jobs.
Phil, since SP was reared as a youth in London, wouldn't he have a better chance of knowing about the matters that you raise than she?
Second Reading
San Diego Sarah • Link
"... in her discourse, through age and some trouble in her family."
Margaret was out with her family, taking care of her/their trouble, by my guess. This does explain to my satisfaction why Pepys didn't try to stop her from visiting when the plague is active. This is probably the last time she will see some of her family.
Louise Hudson • Link
Sam would have called his mother “Mum”, not “Mom”.
I agree, he was probably slipped in short notes for the entries he didn’t make on the day.
Robert Harneis • Link
It is one of the great changes of recent years that since time immemorial people lived on top of or next to their work. Now, by and large, they live elsewhere, which is very inefficient. Has anybody written anything about this?
San Diego Sarah • Link
"Live where you work" is a fine idea ... but jobs don't last these days, and spouses rarely work together. Plus urban planning is about separation of activities, not integration. The best answer is to be self-employed, or tele-commute. We are getting back to this idea from necessity.
San Diego Sarah • Link
May 11, 1665, Sir John Lawrence issues:
ORDER OF THE LORD MAYOR OF LONDON TO THE CITY ALDERMEN:
“These [orders] are in His Majesty’s name to be given to all inhabitants within your ward that from henceforth that every morning they cause the streets and channels before their doors to be watered, swept and cleansed of all manner of dirt, filth and rubbish.” – The Great Plague, Lloyd and Dorothy Moote, Pg. 50