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[Page 27]
The Hotel has no servants to wait on us. Our batmen will do that. We have formed a mess for Clearing Hospl. [Hospital] and the General H]ospital] has their own. We are requisitioning the crockery etc from the Hotel housekeeper, who has an immense store. Meanwhile we will be here probably for a week or two whilst water is being laid on to our new location Zeitoun and a road being made for us across a mile of desert. There are Australians, New Zealanders and British Territorials in throngs about the streets tonight. Three of us went out at 7 o'clock tonight and found a cheaper place than the Hotel where we had lunch and we only paid 9 piastres each. The standard coinage here and which every body uses is the piastre of which 97½ go to a [indecipherable] 1 piastre is about 2½ pence. The Egyptian shilling or 5 piastre piece is equal to 1.0½ [shilling & a halfpenny]. It is of silver. But the 1 piastre is about the same size and is of nickel. Then there is the ½ piastre, of nickel, and commonly called a small piastre; and there is a less common silver piastre a little smaller than a 3d [penny] piece. A piastre is worth 10 milliemes of which and there are small coins of nickel less common. Copper coins (arab money) of ½ and ¼ milliemes are rarely seen. There are also 20 piastre pieces (silver) and 40 piastre pieces (dollars) equal to 4/2 [shillings & pence]. English money except gold is not useful, and if one uses it one is always the loser by the deal. About meals it looks as if the Officers generally dine at the Hotel, and the English Tommies, who are nearly all very small men, at the restaurants. But we three tonight had a private room at the restaurant and were well pleased with our meal. We couldn't stand paying 6/- [shillings] for a dinner after having already being rooked for 4/- [shillings] for our lunch. But everything seems very dear here, and money goes like water once one changes a sovereign! I expect we shall get some of our pay tomorrow or so. I must finish off now, as it is late; and I want to post letter tomorrow as I have heard that a mail leaves for Australia on Tuesday. My best love for you all; and best regards to our kind friends.
Your old Husband.