Item 02: John Duncan McRae diary, 11 December 1916-9 February 1917 - Page 20

[Page 20]

for Xmas. We had a bright time; how could we do otherwise when there were 4 fine girls and only Alan & I there. Alan & one of the girls played the piano, & they sang till we were sick of it; and then supper, which went down well. We were going to kiss the girls good-bye but mother came in just too soon & the fun had to be postponed. During the evening the daughter was showing us two little ebony elephants & I put one in my pocket & as she did not seem to object much, I kept it as a souvenir. Alan also got one.

Dec 19. Usual drill ashore in morning. In afternoon we marched 3 miles to Sea Point Bath and all had a swim & returned by 6 P.M. In evening we took our friends to the entertainment on the Pier, which was necessarily very enjoyable. We then took them home & had a 3 miles walk back to the ship again, which we reached at 11.30, half an hour over-time, but the guard let us past alright.

Dec. 20. From 9-1 we were on Town Picquet again & had the time of our lives. As the main troops were not ashore the hotels were all open & the picquet