‘I have now had a fortnight’s rest here,’ wrote Sherriff to Pips, ‘so I expect I shall soon be leaving now…Although I feel better for the rest, I don’t think my nerves have improved much; any noises worry me and I can’t set my mind properly to anything – but I will have to go back to the Regiment I expect, and see how I get on – the feelings may wear off later on’.

His daily routine was unchanged: ‘Get up. Breakfast. Walk. Lunch. Read. Walk. Tea. Write letter. Read. Walk. Dinner. Read. Bed.’ He was enjoying the walks in the countryside, although the landscape was very flat, with no hedges. There were several rivers and canals, all frozen solid, topped by snow, which had fallen a few weeks before.

As for his reading, he was currently enjoying a ‘very good school story…called David Blaize, by E F Benson’ [published in 1916]. He was sure Pips would enjoy it. He had just finished The Antiquary, and was now ‘on Old Mortality, which, although I have started several times, I have not been able to get on with.’

Other than that, he apologised, he had ‘nothing much to say, so goodbye for the present, hoping all are well at home.’

[Next letter: 12 February]