Series 03: John Brady Nash letters, January 1914-December 1915 - Page 103
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[Page 103]
a day or two. Medical and surgical affections & incidents always come in batches. The medical officers along the Suez Canal are said to be fully occupied with wounded Turks. If I can manage I shall try to get a trip to the fighting line. It is a nuisance to be so near and yet see nothing of what is happening. Fancy hears you think or say – Oh Faree may see enough of fighting before long – Perhaps. One never knows his fortune in this world, nor the luck that will be with him. However one can always hope for the best and try to deserve it.
Yesterday afternoon – 5-2-15 – I was in Cairo for a few hours. Visited Heliopolis for a few minutes, dined at Shepheards with Major Barrett Col. Ryan & others, saw General Birdwood, some ladies, and left for home about 10 p.m. An early hour for Cairo. The concerts and amusements begin at 9-30 p.m., lasting, so I have been told, till 1-30 a.m. No suitable companion was with me hence my early return. Another reason was my being somewhat weary. Of Heliopolis, the City of the sun, I shall write to you later.
You may remember about one year back seeing a picture, in one of the illustrated papers, depicting Egyptians girls carrying vessels on the head. "The Old and the New", the former showing a water bottle of earthenware poised on the head, "the New" being an oil tin similarly carried. This morning the originals were before me crossing the sands. There was a third woman in like manner carrying a basket, and on her left arm a baby. The custom necessitates an upright habit of body. Were the movement when walking, other than of the legs the load would fall. The stoop
[Colonel Charles Snodgrass Ryan, 61, medical practitioner of Orange, NSW, embarked from Melbourne on 21 October 1914 on HMAT A3 Orvieto as Honorary Surgeon General and Director of Medical Services with Headquarters 1st Australian Division.
General William Riddell Birdwood (Baron Birdwood) (1865-1951), soldier, was appointed commander of the forces raised by Australia and New Zealand in November 1914, and arrived in Egypt on 21 December.]