Aug 6/18
Dear Mother
Very many thanks for 3 letters from you today, forwarded from Cox, dated 5, 12, & 19th June. I have only had one letter from Nell this mail, & there seem to be a lot missing, I suppose that’s bound to happen with letters going via Cox, but they generally all turn up in the end.
Not much news here. It seems cooler than it was, though the last month has been rather warm, round about 116° or so in the shade [47° C] & hot muggy nights. I have been buying winter tunics etc, in lots of time this time, as I’m determined not to be caught like I was last time & have to spend the winter in khaki drill. I have had to have some slight alterations made too, as I am on the thin side just at present, what with the hot weather an’ all; I weighed 10 st 3 lbs on Sunday last! & I ought to be 11.7; but I shall get it all back in the winter I expect. But I had to put on woolly waistcoats etc to try on these coats, can you imagine it in the heat!
This is the last week of the class thank goodneess, it has been fairly strenuous & I shan’t be sorry when it’s over. In your letter of June 4th you were saying what ages there had been since you last heard from me. I know; it was the K. Baghdadi show that caused all the delay, we were such miles up the river & then floods & bad roads made things harder, & all this caused the delay. You speak of Nell again having been staying with Ben, & how you tried to get her down again for a week end. I wish she had been able to do so.
c I certainly think I stand a good chance next spring, but I’m not going to be so foolish as to say so or to count on it in the least.
Meanwhile with the cold weather coming on out here, and the fighting season with it, I feel it my duty to stay on & see that through. So I am making no further efforts at getting leave at present. I have no compunction in trying to dodge the hot weather! So I shall begin to worry them again after Christmas.
How awfully good Ben was to Nell, I can never thank her enough, & Nell was most enthusiastic about her visit an’ all. You have all been most awfully good to the dear child, & I know she is being well looked after. I have’nt had a line from Ben yet, but I’m longing to get one. I expect she’s been too busy, getting into her new house, which sounds fascinating. I am so glad too Topher has started on his way for a commission, & think the A.S.C should do him well.
In your letter of June 11 you had got my long delayed mails at last, 3 or 4 letters together, written at odd times & places during that fighting. Yes, they were hard & exciting times, and one feels one is really doing something on those rare occasions out here when we meet the Turk. I’m so glad the photographs turned up O.K., I was rather doubtful as to what would happen to them, as I posted them one night at Hit, where everyone seemed to be in everyone else’s way, on the eve of the advance, & a general muddle all round! However in their usual wonderful way they seem to have reached you safely. Yes, I wore the old woolly a good deal last winter, it was positively the only warm thing I had.
You say you had heard from Jim & that he said he had ‘found me’, I suppose he means by wire, as I did’nt actually meet him till May I think. Rations seem to be more liberal at home now, especially bacon & ham; I see Germany is starting meatless weeks. I wonder if Dick ever managed to wangle that exchange, but I fancy it’s difficult for any one on the Indian establishment to stay in France nowadays.
Many thanks for Ben’s new address: I will try & write to her there this mail. I wonder how Desmond Gabb is managing to get home. Everyone except me it seems!
No more just now. I hope to get some more mail in yet, especially from Nell & Ben.
Best love to all
yr loving son
Ted
Did Topher ever get any money from me? I told Cox to send him some, & I was wondering if he ever got it, as I never heard.
