Writing to Pips, he rehearsed the concerns that he had expressed to his mother the day before:
‘I have been rather busy just lately getting the men of the East Surreys cleaned up – our new Commanding Officer is always hovering round and has several times swooped down on one of my working party because they are dirty – unfortunately they are a very poor selection of men, specially sent on these working parties by their Company Commanders to get rid of them, so you can understand it is almost impossible to keep them clean. I am afraid as the Commanding Officer has spoken to them several times for being dirty he will withdraw them and send a new lot shortly (probably me included).’
He would be loathe to go because he found the work of the Engineers more interesting than that of the Infantry, and in addition he was enjoying the quieter times in his dugout: ”When I am alone in my dugout I can read and write better than when [I] am sitting at a table with about 6 others talking 16 to the dozen.’ He had been writing some short stories, in fact, just before the C.O. arrived, and had not yet had the chance to get back to them.
Model British infantry soldiers open fire on the French, in the opening scene of the 1977 remake of The Four Feathers. From https://wargamingmiscellanybackup.wordpress.com/category/wargames-on-film-and-tv/
The weather now had that ‘chilly, misty feeling in the air’ that showed that Xmas was coming, and he could imagine being in London, on his way home, hurrying to Waterloo along Regent Street and the Haymarket. He would far rather spend Xmas quietly, ‘with a few RE officers, than with a crowd’. But most of all he hoped that he could all spend next Xmas at home with everyone, and that they could enjoy all the old customs: ‘soldier battles on the floor, stockings full of mysterious shapes, stamp albums and cards and billiards and all the other things that make the winter evenings so dear at home’.
He had been chatting with one of the RE officers, who shared an enjoyment for cycle touring and in Roman remains. They had talked for hours at the mine about Roman roads and many other things. It was good, he felt, to meet someone with the same interests as his often – and few seemed to share his interest in ‘Antiquarian’ matters.
[Next letters: 29 November]