DOG BAYS AND HOLIDAYS

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1748, 6 September 1905, Page 49

DOG BAYS AND HOLIDAYS

(From Our Special Correspondent.) LONDON, July 38. London is very languid this week. The heat has been more humid and oppressive then ever, and the air we have, to breathe badly wants re-charging with ozone. Scientists suggest that the “tube” railways could be used to bring fesh air into London, but the hot draughts that assail one's) lungs at the mouth of a tube-station are if anything worse than the stagnant atmosphere of the broiling streets. Life under such conditions, is distinctly trying, though the born Cockney probably feels the heat less than the imported Londoner. rr Why is it,” asks Mr T. P. O’Connor, “that Londoners insist on remaining in London during the Dog Days?” A, nice question for wealthy M/s P. to ask the five or six millions who have to stay there whether they want to or not! Fortunately there are compensations for the heat and the general discomfort. London is wonderfully well supplied with parks, all beautifully kept, and some of them amongst the finest in the world. In Hyde Park a first-class municipal band plays every night and nothing can be pleasanter than to sit there under the trees in the cool of the evening, with only a distant murmur to remind you of the turmoil of the crowded streets. The holiday season, too, is in full swing. Lucky people with a fortnight or a month at their disposal are scattering themselves about the United Kingdom, or up and down the Continent, in over increasing numbers. Fortunate indeed is the holiday-maker with ten pounds in hie pocket and a couple of weeks in which to spend the money. A very embarrassment of riches overtakes him. Every railway in the kindgom, every watering-place or- mountain bivouac says “Come!” and says it very loud and clear. Thomas Cholc and a host of imitators will offer him anv one of “the

endless combinations which our unique System of travelling tickets enables us to effect for visiting the most beautiful parte of the British Isles.” For a <£3 ticket he can travel round the Kingdom from London to Inverness and back. A three hours’ journey will land him at Boulogne, or he can leave London any evening and breakfast next morning in Paris. Eight pounds' will give him a “conducted excursion” up the Rhino, and cover all travelling and hotel expenses for a seven days' tour, or for twelve guineas and upwards he can cruise for ten days amongst the Norwegian fjords. The combinations are endless, indeed. If the funds are very much the re verso, there is always the consoling reflection that nowhere else will the holiday-maker get such value for his money.