Writing to his mother, Sherriff observed that the weather was still very fine, and that the men were beginning to look very brown:

‘We have been out this morning in an absolutely boiling sun which is more like August than May – this afternoon is a holiday and I am spending it in quietly reading and writing as it is too hot for anything else at present.’

Part of his reading consisted of  letters he had received from home – from his mother, and also one from each of Bundy and Pips – ‘it is so good of you to keep me supplied like this,’ he told her. He hoped the weather was similarly hot at home, so that his mother could get outside to exercise more, now that she was not working such long hours at the hospital.

He had sent another parcel of surplus kit back home about a fortnight earlier, and hoped that she had received it. He had enclosed a heavy tunic which would be too hot to wear in summer, but which he thought might be useful as a ‘kind of lounge jacket, if I ever become a civilian again – as I hope, if there is any luck, may be soon’.

There was not much in the way of news to tell her. The work they were doing was much the same every day, and he hoped they would continue with it for some time. He was very pleased, though, with the other officers in his company:

‘I could not wish for better friends…and we always have a very pleasant time together – especially in the Mess, which is a large room in a farmhouse – the others are mostly older than me, but they are perfect companions.’

He hoped that everything was quite well at home, and that she was glad that, while he was in France, he was ‘as happy as I could ever possibly be away from home.’

[Next letter: 7 May]