Very pleasant day. N.W. wind strong at times: very dry. Dovecot Park brown + bare. Nancy arrived soon after 9 Jack having motored her up from St Abbs1. She was literally tanned brown! Used my new B.S.A. with my red saddle + feet fairly at home2. Saw one or two town cases + went over to Yair. In the afternoon got message to see [?] Mrs Russell who had a faint. Got tradesman acct sorted for payment. Ordered Veeder cyclometer for new bike3.
1 Dr Muir’s daughter Agnes Amelia ‘Nancy’ Roberts née Muir (1878-1948) and son in law John ‘Jack’ Roberts junior (1876-1966); they had set off on 28 June for their family holiday at St Abbs, Berwickshire
2 In Dr Muir’s diary entry for 30 June 2019 he noted that he did not like his new bike (which the Editor suggested was probably the B.S.A. Gent’s All-Weather Bicycle) for an unspecified reason, though unfamiliarity would not be an unreasonable worry considering the 550 miles of cycling he was just about to cover on his July holiday at Glenluce
3 On 30 June 2019 Dr Muir also noted “I have no Velometer for a 28 inch wheel”. The editor suggested at the time that it was a reasonable proposition that wheel size was a consideration in the accurate measurement of distance travelled pre-GPS, presuming that it counted rotations, and that the difference in wheel size would thus have rendered Dr Muir’s device unusable on his new bike. ‘Canadian Cycling’, 15 November 2018, lovingly describes the Veeder Cyclometer (made at Hartford, Connecticut), the one that Dr Muir used, and confirms that the operating principle was wheel revolutions. Readers may wish to see the article here https://pressreader.com/@nickname12607912/csb_IJVJAEvwcRo71KI55qHt4e-GQO5eVS41q97pQSGEj-6YJQna8vx-NPYJYPrxFtkd but the PressReader experience is a nasty one, even if you register, and the Editor cannot recommend it; your time is better (and less painfully) spent slamming your head in a car door
[Source: Scottish Borders Archives & Local History Service SBA/657/22, Dr J S Muir of Selkirk, medical practitioner, journal for 1919]
Rumbling Clint's Scottish Notes 