Item 01: James McCall Young diary, 9 November 1917-22 April 1918 - Page 45

[Page 45]

brother scot, had been in France & Gallipoli and had been here for 9 months (poor devil) it was very interesting listening to him. 9 PM went to bed. very cold.

Saturday Dec 15th
got up at 6 AM, (new orders out to get up earlier), (very cold) had to pack everything outside our tents. not so many Flying machines about as 10 of them were broken yesterday, and were not repaired in time. 2 PM went on leave into the city until 6 PM. It is the dirtiest place I have ever seen or want to see, one place had goats, rabbits, fowls and children crawling about together in all sorts of filth. I tried to get into a native temple, but was not allowed in because we had our boots on. I visited various parts of the city and had dinner and tea in one of the hotels and it was nothing to get excited over regarding the quality of the eatables. had a couple of rides in the native "Gharries" or carriages which are very nice being rubber tyred and very easy running being pulled by two Arab horses. Visited the "wassa" and saw the native can can. all the other kinds of cart work is done by donkeys, being very small and strong, it is surprising what they can shift in the funny little carts. all the streets are very dirty and of course hum very much, and wind and twist about. I soon got tired of wandering about. got back to camp at 6.30 PM very tired and disgusted with what I had seen. 8 PM made my bed and went to sleep.