18/10/16
700220 No 1 Coy
17th Reserve Bat
East Sandling
Kent

Dear Flo

Received your most welcome to day and was of course very pleased to hear from you again as it is quite a long time since I had a letter from you but I suppose you have not much spare time while you are on your Holliday so I will excuse you this time but don't let it happen again.

Well kid from your letter I should judge that you are having some time in the East well all I can say is go to it while you have the chance and as you say confine your trip to Canada and the states as this is a hell of a place to be sure I don't see how the devil people can say they would sooner have England than Canada personally I think they must be suffering from some mental disease when they say it but I suppose it is everyone for their taste.

So the 181st are likely to come over this winter Eh. Well if the damn fools have any sense they will stay where they are for it is up to your ankles in mud now and every appearance of getting worse but putting all that aside it is not to bad.

Well most of our boys are in France now in fact there is only about 100 left and a big percentage of any Friends are killed or missing and some wounded of course including my best pal Sgt Robertson he was reported killed about a month ago not officially of course but I am forced to believe something has happened to him as I have not heard from him for at least six weeks and I know he would write if he was all right but I am still hoping he will turn up for his sisters sake who is all alone in Brandon you know and will feel his loss terrible.

Well I do go to a dance once in a while but the janes over here are so damned homely or stuck up that there is not much pleasure in going and believe me they have got nothing to be stuck up about. I hear that Elsie McNeil was playing in Bdn again a short time back I still have her picture and speaking of pictures Mother has got one of me in kilts for you when you go back home I sent it to her because it would be safe with her as I did not know whether you would get while you were running around all over Gods good Earth so you can get it whenever you go back. Well there is not much news but I wrote Mother a good eye witness of an air Raid but it would take too long to write over so you can ask Mother for the copy I might say is was myself that witnessed the seen and it was good so will be worth getting

Well I must say Au Revoir for the present so 'hoping to hear form you again soon as poss."

I am, as ever