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[Page 63]
for "a rainy day".
2nd-9th. My health improves daily. I attribute the improvement to the food parcels. I am hoping daily to leave my bed and look forward to taking a little fresh air. My lungs are awfully congested owing to the months I have spent in bed, inhaling this awful air. I have experienced much humiliation lately, through my parcels, very often one waits weeks without them, then four or five will arrive sumiltaneously; on these occasions Huns and Russian collect in crowds round one's bed, offering to purchase. Despite refusal they persist, and even after the Huns have retired the Russians continue their entreaties. Inadvertently one is unable to explain the circumstances, so they think one miserly and selfish. For instance I have often had 15 or 20 tins of foodstuff on hand at one time, that is caused by the accumulation of delayed parcels. On the other hand, I often find my locker bare. When a number of them arrive together, it is necessary to retain several tins or packets, (as the case may be) to meet the weeks of delay. I often give packets of rice, sago etc. despite the various offers of money ranging from four to six marks, according to the quantity. I have several Russians nursing me, therefore my supplies are decreased by their demands. It is quite common to see forty or fifty gathered round different Englishmen, opening new arrived parcels. The unhappy men are always desperately hungry and have an insatiable appetite for cigarettes and tobacco. I often feel inclined to throw several whole parcels amongst the crowd, to free myself from the piercing eyes of these starving men. Like the Huns, the Russians think our parcels are forwarded from America, but I do not wast time endeavouring to explain. Poor deluded wretches.
10th. 9 a.m. "Old Bill" visited the ward and to his joy, he discovered several men using the stove for cooking purposes, He silently approached them, and siezed several pots of boiling oats; promptly throwing the contents over the unfortunate victims. Then a thunderstorm commenced. He kicked everything within