Item 01: Oliver Hogue letters, November 1914-29 December 1915 - Page 77

[Page 77]

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a few million extra germs with it.   I got one. For the very first time since I went into Camp   I felt off colour. Maybe I ate something I shouldnt (I very rarely drink anything I shouldnt)   Anyhow I woke up this morning with nasty gripping pains in my Little Mary. Seemed as if a giant had stooped down, squeezed me, then let me drop. So I stayed in bed till 9 o'clock instead of rising at 5.30. I am feeling quite better now (almost) but my morning cigar has   a curiously unpleasant taste. I must change my tobacconist. I am as empty as a drum, but that can be remedied later.  

On Saturday night at Shepherds Hotel was held the great Venetian Fete. It was given in aid of the Serbian Red Cross Fund & was huge success. The gardens were brilliantly decorated & illuminated with fairy lights,  Coloured electric globes and hundreds of lanterns. At 11 o'clock there was a splendid pyrotechnic display which lit up the whole scene. All night long there was a confetti battle waging & raging.   Bundles of confetti cost 5 piastres (about 1/-) and there were thousands & thousands sold. There were many hundred visitors of all nationalities British, French, Greek, Syrian, Italian, Egyptian, Russian, Servian etc & for a   couple of hours we did nothing but throw confetti at each other, This naturally provoked roars of laughter. We laughed all night. Then we danced till sometime after midnight. . Some of the girls are very pretty but I've not lost my heart to them yet. There was a brilliant assemblage of officers in gay uniforms   and bright ribbons. Civilians were very much in the minority. Altogether it was a fine spectacle & a brilliant ensemble. The mail is about to close.
The mail has closed.

Oliver.