Primary tabs
Transcription
[Page 31]
influence the French have had on the architecture of Egypt. There is a great deal of resemblance between some of the narrow streets of this town and the French parts of Alexandria Said & Suez. Of course this only applies to the modern parts, not to anything truly Arabic or old Egyptian, but still to buildings and streets which at present form large sectors of those cities.
There is nothing to do in these places. There are a fair number of Froggie "Soldats" about, some wounded and these make friends quickly with the Tommies Scotties & Anzacs. The Cafes are not bad spots, and provide mighty good & cheap bread & butter, chips and fish, and of course, wine and beer. The Australians and New Zealanders get a good hearing everywhere, but its awfully funny to hear them trying to make themselves understood. The waitresses are in screams the whole time. I was with Denning the other day & he asked the girl to "promenade the jam" , as he did not know how to ask her to bring it. No jam came, but when we were going, she gave him a parcel with a tin of jam in it, thinking that he wanted to promenade with the jam, or take the jam on the promenade. Gee, we laughed at Denning. He was only trying to be flash with his French we told him, but being strawberry he bought it, and we have since had it in camp – with a little bread underneath it, to stop it dropping on to our fingers!
About all the boys can say is Non Comprene or Compre! Oui! Vins or Beer – essentials like that. But another factor helps us very much. As you know, the lads brought over a lot of Arabic phrases with them from Egypt. Well the kiddies who hawk newspapers, chewing gum & chocolates about the camp. have picked this up wonderfully, and we are always able to make ourselves understood with a mixture of