Back in the front line (the right sub-section of Calonne) with his battalion , Sherriff had little time to write, so settled for dashing off a couple of quick letters to his parents. He apologised to his mother for the one-page letter:

 ‘Just a hurried line to tell you I am quite well but very busy as we are in the line and as we have to work at all times we require as much sleep as possible, so you will excuse just a short note…’.

His letter to Pips was a little longer, and he mentioned that he had been reading a good little book (‘really a children’s book’) with ‘some very fine little stories in it’: Parables from Nature, it was called, and Pips should try to get hold of a copy, as he might like it.

The weather had been rather changeable of late (‘first rain, then snow, then sunshine’) but the days were growing longer (‘we have, of course, gone back to summer time as well as you’) and the nights less cold:

‘There are signs of spring everywhere now – today, two larks soared up from the middle of No Man’s Land singing – they are quite neutral – there are also some snowdrops growing out there…’.

The Daily Mail had reported that the crocuses at Hampton Court were at their best – ‘I should have liked to see them, but I do hope I shall be able to next year’.

[Next letter: 31 March]