Two letters to Pips today – but the first was brief – just a quick line to let him know that he’d been busy, and that a trip to the Adjutant of the Royal Engineers would take at least a couple of hours, because he was a long walk away. He speculated that perhaps it might have something to do with his application for a transfer. But when he wrote again upon his return to his dugout he seemed rather disappointed that it had only been about a problem with the men’s pay.
Another dugout – this time from the Broadway production of Journey’s End, 1929. By permission of the Surrey History Centre (Ref: 2332/6/3/1/1)
He apologised to Pips for not having written for the past 4 days, but he had been much busier, fitting out the men with new clothes, and visiting more places during his nighttime tours of duty, so that he felt drowsier during the day, and was inclined to sleep rather than write his letters: ‘But I must in future see that the proper supply of correspondence is kept up’.
The work was still going well, and he was still quite enjoying it. He had heard that, the next time the Battalion came out of the line [they had gone back in the previous day, relieving the Queens Regiment in Hulluch] the men in his party were to be relieved, but he was not yet sure whether that would apply to him as well, although he hoped not. He also had not heard about his possible transfer to the RE, but he was occupying his time in studying his mining books, so that if he were sent to them on probation he would ‘know something of the job’. One of the other advantages of the RE, he thought, was that they gave better leave than the Infantry, so that if he transferred he might be able to get home sooner.
He thanked Pips for the contents of yet another parcel: ‘You struck exactly the right things…ginger, almonds and raisins, and chocolate and ye olde Turner Peppermints are appreciated more than anything else…’. He noted that Christmas was just a month away, and commented that: ‘although lonely, I should like to look forward to spending Christmas here rather than with the Battalion. I am sure we should make ourselves pretty comfortable.’
[Next letter: 27 November]