After about two years at the start of 1922, and the prospect of opening up Hugoland, Father at last had a road of one mile constructed linking the Bungalow to the Factory which itself was not far from the PWD road. (Public Work Dept. ie Govt. Rd.). It was a major undertaking as it all had to be hacked out by armies of coolies by hand through the steep almost vertical hillside in places, and yet in other places endless rocks and gigantic boulders had to be blasted with dynamite to form the level gradient to take vehicles. Until that time the house was accessible only by horse or walking, and if guests arrived first at the factory, all their cases would be carried by a coolie down to the house. Father always noted that when de la Hoyde arrived at the bungalow, he would start tapping his pockets and eventually say, “ I say Fred, you couldn’t lend me a couple of rupees for the poor chap; I must have packed my cash. ” Never once did he pay him back!
Once the road had been cut, it was possible to then have a much easier and fuller social life. In addition to the normal weekly tennis functions at the clubs, it was now possible to have big week end parties and countless dances to ragtime and charleston tunes , as well as the great song writers such as Berlin, Novello etc. There was always tuneful music at home, as Father being very social was never happier than with a group of friends, a drink and activity around him. At Christmas with a huge log fire burning to warm the room at a cold damp time of the year, they would have a gigantic Christmas fir tree, laden with presents for the local children of the district. Mother would be in her element having everything just right, as though a little bit of England was now perched high in the tropics. One year de la Hoyde’s visit coincided with the party, and so as a lark Father went to his bedroom and discovered his new box of cigars that he jealouly hoarded away. It was almost full and he quietly took out the remainder of the top row, filled the lower with paper , and put back the bottom layer on top, wrapped it up and hung it onthe tree. Mother came to dish out the presents and gave his to him.
“ What are you doing having a present for me. I never expected that.........Oh my word these cigars are my favorite!” he gushed.
“ Well hand them round the menfolk, I am sure we would all like to see just how good they are”.
So the poor chap unwittingly passed around his own cigars, and a big laugh went up when he realised just what had happened!
Hugh meanwhile was growing up, and was very enccouraged by Father to be interested in the fabulous fauna all round. At the early age of about 6 he was given his first little Daisy Air gun which he adored, to take a pot shot at the bulbulls and barbets that used to decimate the luscious redheart plums on our trees. He rarely ever got one , but he would spend hours stalking and laying the seed for becoming a perfect shot when he got older. One day Mother went into her bedroom to see him looking into her dressing table mirror, tweezers in hand with blood streaming down his face. He was trying to extract a pellet that had inadvertently gone off whilst he was looking at the gun, and had lodged in the bone straight between the eyes! She was horrified, and the Tamil Estate Dispenser who attended to the estate s medical problem was hastily summoned, and he extracted the pellet easily. After that the gun was confiscated for three months!
But there was always something going on around the bungalow, which was a paradise for a child. There were our own cows and a bull to provide milk, dogs for companionship and retrieving snipe etc., cats to keep down rats, chickens for eggs and eating, geese to eat the innumerable leeches in the grassland where the cattle frequented, horses for getting around the miles and miles of paths intersecting the tea fields, and rabbits for an additional source of food. Also there was an amazing tropical garden which not only grew most of the exotic trees such as Jacarandas, cassias, lemon scented eucalyptus etc. ,but also all the lush ginger lilies, stepanotis anthuriums etc, as well as ‘English’ flowers like salvias, zinnias, snapdragons to name a few. There were always odd wild animals which were tamed and made into delightful pets such mongooses, and the mynah birds which would fly around the house mimicking stock sounds such as “ Master coming” or “ Podian” as Father would summon the houseboy. Sometimes the poor fellow would come rushing into the room to find that his summons had originated from the mynah.
One pet Hugh was very fond of was a large long eared eagle owl that had been brought to the house as a fledgling and would be fed on trapped mice or hares. The bird was most imposing and great company for the little boy. In the late afternoon and early evening when it would awaken he would love stroking it and feeding it. He was quite free to fly off, but being tamed stayed around, and spent most of the day perched asleep quietly on the top of a large picture frame in the sitting room. Mother was not altogether pleased with the arrangement, and grumbled about him, but had to yield to both Hugh and Father over this. Some months later however she had a spring clean and had the pictures taken down for dusting etc. only to find that this one was solid behind with all the owl droppings produced by Hugh’s friend! There was a tremendous scene and the owl was relegated to the outside verandah , and shortly after went off for good.
