Cocks letter diary, 1916-1919 / Verner Cocks - Page 571

[Page 571]

1.

No 80
Codford
England
19/4/19

Dear Mother,

Have just returned from leave after having had the best time ever. A letter of yours including a note from Dad was awaiting me. I am very glad to hear that the two parcels of souvenirs have arrived. At last I have got some souvenirs home. In case they had not reached home I had collected a couple more bombs etc during that visit of ours to the battle fields, but I will throw them away now. I was very keen on getting something home. I am wondering now if the gas mask I sent will arrive. I hope so. Yes some of the official photos are terrible but they are only the true souvenirs of war. Of course I would not show that kind to anyone who has lost anyone. I have quite a lot more to send. Besides about 150 snaps I have taken up to date round about Nice. It must have been very uncomfortable  and novel to have to wear masks during the influenza epidemic. Put on mine when it arrives  & see how you would like to work in it for hours & sleep in it when it was worth more than your life to take it off.   It will be terrible if we have to go into quarantine when we arrive. I think we would swim ashore. I wonder did you ever get that medal of mine for swimming at Amiens. A chap was to take it home with him & post it out to you.

I was very surprised to hear that Mr Kerr had been so bad having missed some of your letters which must have told me about him. I hope he is quite well by this.

Now I will tell you about our trip to the Riviera.   Its going to be a long story too.

Well having applied for Nice leave at the camp here & being turned down we got our passes made out for London & on arriving there toot suited down to the A.I.F. HQrs & put it on the furlough officer there to give us a pass to Nice. He being a decent chap "saw no objection to the above N.C.O & man" (that was Jack & I) going on leave to Paris & Nice so issued us with an authority on the fwar office London to issue us with the necessary passes.   We experienced the War Office - and it is all that the English papers say it is.   They have officers there doing all kinds of childish work down to running messages & the red tape is awful.   Anyhow we must have looked like cows for we got through in about an hour & then interviewed the passports office.   Our uniform helped us here & we were pushed through in front of the civvies - buckshee to.   In the meanwhile we had had our photos taken   (for passport purposes) they took 40 mts to do the photos.   One or two more visits to H'Qrs & to the Frlench Consul and we were free to go & left Southampton on the night of the second day of our leave.   Arrived Paris next noon & left at night for ice.   This is a 24 hour trip & with the aid of a couple of francs we got seats all the way.   The journey is a terribly lone one - 24 hours exactly.   We passed through Lyons down the Rhone Valley which is famous and very beautiful studded all along with old Roman villages.   This valley figured a great deal in old Roman invasions.   Arrived at Marseilles stayed long enough to get an impression & after passing through Toulon arrived at Nice the last part of the journey being a beautiful ride along the coast.   Arriving late we put up at any old hotel for the night & changed next morning to a fine one - the Hotel Alexandra - in a select part of the town. Then commenced our holiday.

First lets tell you what Nice is like. Well it is all that it is cracked up to be & well upholds the reputation of the famous Riviera The first thing that strikes you is how clean  and neat the place is. All the places are white  and there is any amount of greenery about. Most of the streets are lined with eucalyptus trees their branches interlocking overhead  and all the gardens are heavily foliaged with big palm trees. There are more hotels than anything else - of all classes - catering of course as the town does essentially for tourists. The next thing is the presence of a great number of Yank soldiers. This is their leave centre & they have taken over a number of hotels for their men. Their Govt. pays all their expenses including hotel expenses while on leave. They are a wonderful people. Being far from home they have made two of the finest holiday resorts in Europe - Nice & Aix-les-bains - their leave centres & flood the places with their soldiers. On outward appearances the people are Yank mad. The Stars & Stripes is displayed in every shop.   Of course it is their money that accounts for this - the people inwardly dislike the Americans - generally on account of their talk that they won the war.   I must say though that all the Yanks I have met have been real fine fellows.   They strike one as being generally above the average intelligence and while being