Transcription
8th Queens
B. E. F.
5. 2. 1916.
My dear Mother,
Many thanks for your letter received to-day & for the literature about New Anzac on Sea. I hope the place is all they say it is & that it will go well – if so your plot should be worth something.
Please thank Cecily for her letter undated which I got yesterday & for Punch to-day.
I am now back in camp & I suppose that we shall not be going up again for some little time. I came back last night & had rather a poor time, as my gee was rather fresh & got startled in the dark by a motor lorry so he reared & hit me over the eye with the back of his head & then slipped & came down
I got clear but he was up & away at once quite in the wrong direction. I didn’t mind about him so much, but as he had all my kit & Aquascutum, I had to follow on my flat feet. I walked up the road after him for about a mile, but as I was then nearly on the Yser Canal, I came back in a motor lorry. Luckily I had got back about 2 miles & I met my groom with the horse who was looking for me. The gee apparently turned back along a railway & went home & as I heard a train going back, I fancy it must have chased him & given him the fright of his life. Anyway he was covered with mud & had been very hot, so I hope he has learnt a little wisdom.
I have not gathered quite what happened to the pram, but I suppose none of you know. I should very much like to know when you find out & what the reason was. After all it may be that it is not strong enough to take 3 people in as I have from time to time.
I was rather caught yesterday, as my servant suddenly turned a purple colour & has gone to hospital. I don’t quite know why unless he has had too much of Cecily’s [illegible] unbeknownst to me. Anyhow he has gone & forgotten to divulge where he has taken my weeks washing, so there is a clean vest & pair of unmentionables not to speak of numerous socks & hand kerchiefs lying in some cottage round here & I don’t know where they are. However I hope that one of the other servants now at Wipers will be able to trace them.
I am very glad the Appam has been found, as it shows that they are not sinking them. I take it that G. will wire the ship she comes in & when she leaves.
Curiously enough I saw a Zepp. on Monday night. I was going round the trenches & saw a curious light in the sky, which I took to be a comet. I watched it for sometime, but it was very misty & when it disappeared I thought the clouds had hidden it.
Love to all
from Jack.