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I will just tell you, so that you may know how I am taking care of myself. I stay in bed every day until lunch. Then I dress by a fire. If it is fine I go for a small walk in the afternoon, then I come back to my fire. After dinner, at about 8.30 I go to bed. The food here has got much better since the submarines have taken to lunching and dining here. It is now very good and they have begun giving me portions so big that I think they suspect me of at least twins sous le coeur. I set sail across tureens of nourishing soup, stagger over soft mountains of pommes purées and melt in marmelades. So you see how well I am looking after myself….

The wind still blows a hurricane here. In the night the rain joined in, but now the sun beats in the air like a kite. It is like living on a ship. The hotel is all bolted and barred up, the big doors closed and a strange twilight in the hall. People go about in shawls and coats. If a window is opened the seas of the air rush in and fill it. The great palm trees have snapped like corks, and many a glittering plume trails in the dust. They say it never has been known before. I have begun to like it….