Miss Fairfax lives!

[qatarperegrine]

I'm not sure which bemuses me more -- that this situation occurred, or that it was worthy of a newspaper article!

And why, exactly, did M Jassim brave stiff opposition from his wife, anyway?

Doesn't it all sound like the makings of a Jane Austen novel?

Comments

Doha and Docility?

[y-pestis.livejournal.com]

I'd think after the "stiff opposition" from the wife, M Jassim is probably wishing he only had a once-a-week interaction with her too.

I can't remember any supporting evidence for this, but I think the help having one day a week to themselves is pretty normal. I just did some searching and came across Edwardian life at Hinchingbrooke that has some interesting detail about the life of servants...
On a webpage about The London House, it says "Servants often worked eighteen hours a day with only half a day off once a week, for very low wages." But it also mentions that one third of the servants were girls under 20, so a fair number of them may have stopped doing the servanting thing after they got married. (Just as Shamim plans to do in two years!)
Another page (a Geocities site) says: " By the 1880s, servants were given a half-day off on Sundays, starting after lunch (and only if all their chores for that morning had been completed), and they were usually given one day off each month, starting after breakfast, and again, their chores all had to be finished first."

Wow. I was vaguely depressed that this is the end of my weekend, but I guess that puts things into perspective!

Re: Doha and Docility?

[qatar.livejournal.com]

I love "Doha and Docility"!!

Your Edwardian rules include this one: "Any maid found fraternising with a member of the opposite sex will be dismissed without a hearing." Perhaps that's M Jassim's wife's position. It certainly makes me wonder what opportunity Mohiuddin had to fall in love with Shamim?

BTW, I do remember maids having one day off a week in Agatha Christies and that era of books.

Also, did the "good samaritan" reference strike anyone else as odd in context?