Sherriff told Pips that the Battalion was now billeted in ‘a pleasant little village a good way from the line’, where they were carrying on with their usual training while in rest, including all the exercises they had done in England, while also kitting-out the men with new clothes, boots and equipment. Training usually took place from 8:00 in the morning until 4:00 in the afternoon, after which their time was their own. As well as training they were taking part in sports, competing with the Engineers in various events, including the 100 yards, some obstacle races and ‘sack fighting on poles’.

But there was still one cloud behind the silver lining:

‘The worst part of this is the uncertainty about moving – you never know from one day to another – even from hour to hour – when orders may come to pack up. Every time a note arrives from the Orderly Room you half expect them to be Movement Orders – but it is not much use worrying about it – if you can only foster the philosophic spirit you are alright, but this is very difficult to do.’

Trying to shrug off his anxiety about a possible change of circumstances he told Pips about the countryside. They were on a small river, not far from the sea [actually in Coyecques, about 30 miles from Boulogne], which had taken them about three mornings of marching to reach. The countryside around was beginning to look dry, as no rain had fallen over a week. He had been for several walks in the countryside, and, as a result, had made up his mind that, once he returned after the war, he would take an interest in ‘natural, as well as ordinary, history’.

[Next letter: 29 April]