Item 01: Clifford M. Geddes diary, 31 March-1 August 1918 - Page 9
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[Page 9]
must be jolly cold these nights with the wind whistling up their bare knees. We went into a post-card shop, & had great fun trying to speak to the pretty, smart, well-dressed French girls. There is a great charm about their manner, there's no doubt, quite different from our English folk. Windows were smashed in many parts of the town in air raids, I suppose. Many places bore "cafe" as a sign, & contained soldiers drinking beer mostly. We looked for a restaurant, but it had just gone 8 o'clock & everything closes at 8, the women simply made grimaces & said "huit heures, impossible." We looked in a pub door as a last resort, but we were greeted with a shake of the head, the woman said "mange" – I knew that meant "eat", & said "Oui" & she pointed to a door lower down, we went in, & luckily struck an excellent meal with "vin blanc", very nice to drink. The bread was a treat, nice white bread we never saw in England, & no meat cards necessary. An English