LANSDOWNE,
GARHWAL,
U.P.
Oct 3.1916.
Dear Mother
Very many thanks for your letter last week, which I got when we were out shooting, Guy Mainwaring & I. We were only out 3½ days, & went more for a loaf & a change than anything else; we bagged 16 birds, pottering about, but we had plenty of gorgeous walking & climbing & outdoor life which did us no end of good. Fortunately the weather “held”, I believe that is correct, for since we have been bck it has poured here all & every day. Never in the memory of the oldest inhabitant has there been such a year for rain as this; the rains proper should have ended a week ago at the latest, but here we are well into October & no sign of them stopping yet. I wish we could see the sun again & this continual dampness is very depressing.
So Jim & Sheina were married earlier than you expected, & consequently my cable, which I knew would be late enough in all conscience for the 9th, must have been truly late for the 6th. However I don’t suppose that matters much. Sorry to hear about Mrs Gabb, I didn’t know she had a stroke & things. Air raids seem very much the order of the day now, but we always seem to bag one or two every time they come over, which is a distinct improvement on former days, & they drop their bombs pretty wildly. And splendid news from the Western Front still; what a wonderful place Thiepval must have been, & still more wonderful the way – and comparatively easy way too – which we captured it. I expect there will be more advances yet before the winter, & it’s more than likely the Bosche may find it the wisest plan to go back altogether before it is too late.
Nell writes very cheery letters still & seems delighted with the bureau. She is still hard at work at her old hospital & tells me she went in for a Red X exam in September but did’nt think she would pass, but I expect she did all right.
No further news of our going to Delhi, except that we know we are going. Of course camp there is very comfy, a great big hut all to oneself, with a boarded floor, & electric light an’ all. But all the same I can’t raise much enthusiasm over the prospect of going there somehow. I don’t believe we are even going on manoeuvres now. The powers that be seem to be all over the shop, & the move of our 1st Batt: to Quetta has been temporarily postponed, so we are still very congested in the barracks & there’s hardly any room for all the men.
We are having 10 days’ holiday now as it’s a big Hindu festival which lasts ten days. But Holiday only means parades are off; I spend hours in the office daily as usual. Today is the big day, when they cut off the heads of 50 or 60 goats, & 2 huge buffaloes, as a sort of sacrifice, a ghastly sight, & they will always ask us to go & see it. I suppose I must go, as I’m commander for a few days as DB is away on a staff ride, & I expect they’ll be expecting me. It’s pouring with rain, but they said wet or fine. I hate the show, it’s so barbarously primitive & bloodthirsty & a horrible sight as you may imagine, & quite indescribable. It’s 1.30 now, so I must trot off. Hope you manage to find my sword & Coat warm, unless someone has bagged the latter.
Best love to all
Yr loving son
Ted.
http://www.ww1battlefields.co.uk/somme/thiepval.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Durga_Puja
