Part 01: Alan Fraser Fry letters, 8th August 1914- 28 January 1917 - Page 115
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[Page 115]
5th Novbr. 1915
[The Young Men's Christian Association with H. M. Mediterranean Expeditionary Force in Egypt.]
From Zietoun Camp. Cairo
No. 1340 Coy. 10R Batt. 13th
Brigade 4B Divisn A.T.F.
Dear Mother and all at Home,
This is the life!! Have arrived here at last and settled down to real strenuous work. We left the "Argyllshire" on 31st Oct and took the train to Cairo, arriving here about 1pm that day. It was bad luck missing Dene at Suez. I believe he called down to the boat to see me, and I had only been gone a few hours.
The life here is just the same as when I was here before, except that we live in huts instead of tents. Not iron huts, but very thin boards, and they are nice and cool. We did not wait to get our land legs, but started right away to get the fat off, and have been worked like niggers all the time. Long marches every day, and trench digging are the general routine, and my word it is hard work digging trenches with those little tools we have. As fast as you dig the hole fills up again with loose sand, and it is not very long before we have a good perspiration up. The dust is very irritating and makes all the work unpleasant, and when the wind blows you can't see 30 yards. However I'm not growling. Have never felt better in my life, and am fairly jumping out of my skin. When we come in every afternoon after our work a rush for