Item 01: Irene Victoria Read letters from her husband, 27 November 1914-1 November 1915 - Page 89

[Page 89]

Altogether I think I made quite a decent looking girl. Several other officers went in female attire but I was generally considered to be quite the nicest.
Col. Syme was rigged up as an elderly lady & looked just the thing. I lent one of the nurses my bath gown & she went as a lady Companion of the Bath. Sister Stobo was to have worn my blue tunic & cap & gone as a daughter of the Regiment but she feared to bust the coat & had to borrow from one of the corpulent captains. In spite of the heat dancing was kept up till midnight when the proceedings terminated with Auld Lang Syne & God Save the King.
Several of the ships company have been laid up since yesterday with ptomaine poisoning.
On the afternoon of 4th January sports for officers & nurses were held – I competed in the semi final of the potato race but was defeated on the post by Capt. Kennedy. Dear little Tingsey's third birthday – in the solitude of my cabin I spent an hour in reverie thinking of you all – I started with bedtime and pictured myself lifting two little yawning and stretching children putting them back to bed tucking them in & kissing them goodnight. Then I saw the Mrs. Making Peter's bottle & later the same little man speedily devouring its contents. Next came the awakening in the morning two little chatterers in the nursery, Peter gradually wakening