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[page 14]
25
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as we had just come from Egypt where the weather was getting hot. For three weeks we saw the sun but three times. We are almost within sight of the English coast (we certainly hear the British anti-air-craft guns firing at the Zeppelins at nights) and to be so near and yet be unable to get over there is rather tantalizing to the boys. The British soldiers here get parcels daily from their re relations and friends in England. Stuff cooked one afternoon reaches them here at about midday following. Some of the British Officers at the front practically live on stuff sent over from England - roast chickens etc. - I can tell you, if there is one man who knows how to look after himself it is the British Officer. All this receiving of parcels by the British troops started our chaps looking for English relatives. They raked their brains for long forgotten Uncles and Aunts and to these they wrote as "your loving Nephew Tom" or whatever their names were. Some drew prizes, some drew blanks whilst others found that their "Dear Aunt" had been dead ten years! My tent mate struck a prize in an Uncle down in Cornwall who asked for a list of anything he might want. He wasn't long in getting it. We asked him for a case of beer (because the water here was very bad and we were afraid of an epidemic of typhoid and as the constant rains had wet all the wood about we were unable to light a fire to boil the water)( a few bottles of whisky, (all the water lying about had caused the snakes to be very bad), a case of fruit (we feared an outbreak of scurvy through living on tinned meat only, no vegetables being available). We are now waiting for him to send along the stuff. A favourite stunt in writing to, say an Aunt was to say "Mother used to be always talking about you,