Page:The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, vol. 1.djvu/159

 Park. The weekly rent was 5s, breakfast 4d, dinner 9d, and supper 4d. Had I found the house a little earlier, I could have lived in Brighton yet more cheaply and more comfortably; but I would not have learnt how to cook with facility. There is also another vegetarian house in Brighton where they charge 18s per week for board and lodging. It may be said that the cooking did not take much time. The breakfast took only 10 minutes to be ready. For there was only milk to be made hot. The supper took nearly 20 minutes and the dinner 1 hour. Thus encouraged by success on reaching London, the first thing for me to do was to go on in search of a suitable bed-sitting room. I selected a room in Tavistock Street for 8s a week. Here I cooked my breakfast and supper and dined outside. The landlady supplied me with plates, spoons and knife, etc. The breakfast almost always cons is ted of porridge, stewed fruit and bread and butter (3d). I dined for 6d at one of the many vegetarian restaurants and for supper I had bread and milk and some stewed fruit or radishes or fresh fruit (3d); so then the expenses for board and lodging in England were, during the last 9 months of my stay, only 15s and even 14s latterly when, in the same house, I took up a 7-s room. During this time I enjoyed the best of health and had to work very hard, if not the hardest, as there were only 5 months left for the final examination. I used to walk about 8 miles every day and in all I had three walks daily, one in the evening at 5.30 p.m. for an hour and the other always for 30 or 45 minutes before going to bed. I never suffered from ill health except once when I suffered from bronchitis owing to over-work and neglect of exercise. I got rid of it without having to take any medicine. The good health I enjoyed is attributable only to vegetable diet and exercise in the open air. Even the coldest weather or the densest fog did not prevent me from having my usual walks. And under the advice of Dr. Allinson, the champion of open air, I used to keep my bedroom windows open about 4 inches in all weathers. This is not generally done by people in winter, but it seems to be very desirable. At any rate it agreed with me very well.

From the typescript. Courtesy : Pyarelal Nayyar