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<p>a4701832.html</p><p>2/ & looked very crook' on it, but despite one death in this Ward (a "Tommy" Sergt) all & sundry ("Tommies", "Jocks", "Aussies" & "Tammies") are doing trés "jake". I reckon myself that the NZ Doctor here is only giving us a rest for I never felt better in my life & I'm sure there's nothing much wrong with the others. This is a real "Home" for fed-up 'soldats' - good [scran?], 'bo-coo' sleep, little or no work, nice beds to sleep in, no "chats", & etc etc of all that's bon. None of us were allowed up out of bed for the first few days as some temperatures went drunk on their owners. Mine did a steady but sure fall from 102 & now it is registered @ 95, so there's no reason why I shouldn't be now back with the Batt<sup>n</sup>. as the "School" course of 6 days ended on Thursday last. Anyhow, I 'spose I'll get back soon enough, tho. I can't say that the few days instruction on 'general subjects' which was to have been fed into us per the agency of "Tommy" Sergt. Majors (all ex Mons men, or "Old Contemptibles") has been of much value. We Privates & NCO's were, or @ least felt, decidedly out-of-place while @ that Monastery, that is, as regards having meals served to one @ a real table while sitting on real seats, instead of one or two of us being told-off or 'detailed' to act as Mess orderly - or "slushy" or Privates' batman - as is the case with the Batt<sup>n</sup>. At this school there are 80 English girls belonging to the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps ('WAACS' - pro. "Whacks" by all & sundry) who serve the meals & look after the cleaning up, besides doing the cooking & other domestic jobs. Their presence saves the Corps keeping fit men out of the line to do the job as we students would have little or no time in our short course to take on that work in addition to being on the various parades - 9am till 1pm; 2pm till 4pm, 6pm till 7pm. Despite the definite orders against the practise, the 'WAACS' are not afraid to promenade with their soldiers, brothers-in-arms, "CB" (confined to barracks or "chase the bugle" as we know it) is given to them pretty liberally for infractions of the order, but there you are. They are real novelties to us because hearing the English tongue from a woman anywhere near the Front (we are about 15 miles to rear @ this place) is something we never think of after 5 or 6 months potting about the Forward Area (up to 4 miles to rear).</p><p>The Monastery is a very big building & stands on a commanding height, as seems most usual with Roman Catholic institutions. The Monks must have imshee'd, or been imshee'd, as there's no sign of them here now. 'Tis said that one of the Old Mother-Superiors lies in a vault under the stone-floor, so there's a chance for someone to invent a ghost story & so make the WAACS feel uncomfortable o'night.</p><p>The few "Yanks" amongst us are from a camp of theirs' not far from here. Most of them seem to have come from the Eastern States & "Noo York" seems 'favorite'. Guess they're all we've got to depend on now, outside the indomitable Navy, to see this "shooting-gallery-World Stunt" through & you're sure to be reading lots about 'em between this & Xmas - if the War lasts so long. In physique they compare very favourably with us & their independent sort of ways, hardly lack of discipline, make them something like our "ragtime" lot. If they put as much fear into the Hun as the almost insignificant (in</p><p> </p><p>PTO</p>