Fred's Big Adventure!
I say that jokingly, but in all seriousness this document is a deeply personal one as it's a "personal diary". However, I get a sense it was meant to be read. Maybe Fred wanted to read it himself from time to time. It's self-contained in a very nice feeling leather 6-ring binder. "It feels good in your hands" is the kind of description I give to this object. It's a high-quality bit of craftsmanship from the era. To me, this book beacons to be read. It invites the reader in.
This book was not meant to be hidden.
I'm unsure of the exact age. The first date I see is "Saturday Aug 11". Looking through the 1930s calendars I see that in 1934 Aug 11 fell on a Saturday. But there's a slight discrepancy. One phrase on the same page as that date said:
Irish Chauffeurs are making islands in lake preparing for Great Fair in 1933.
It could be that he simply got the date wrong. It was added AFTER the initial text was written because it is in a different color of ink. He wrote "Sat - Aug " in blue and "11" was written in black ink.
I think Fred may have wanted to share it or wouldn't mind it being read
If it ever goes into some deeply personal stuff I'll stop. I have nothing but respect for the men and women that were the machinery behind these wonderfully designed and built watches we all enjoy so very much.
You may notice Fred was a fine dresser. In the sea of black suites at the German sales conference, Fred was front and center, in an ALL-WHITE suite. This man wanted to be seen :-) And I believe he would have no problem sharing this with us all. I'm sure it's filled with fond memories. So, let's all kick back next to a fire this wintry 2017 and let Fred tell us a good story.....
Below you can view the original diary pages and the brochure that accompanied the diary that has images of the sights a traveler can see on that line of trains.
I'm using Google Drive's PDF viewer. If you are having issues viewing and/or downloading the documents, drop me an email. Please make sure you can view other people's PDF files online before contacting me. As much as I love to help, I don't want to become a troubleshooter of your PDF problems :-)
The transcribed text is coming very soon!
