October 22, 1940
Received your letter of 28th September today with the snaps. The snaps were very good in spite of the fact that Alan was decapitated. Yes, I received all the snaps you have mailed and consider them a real gift as they help give the people who are interested a good idea how the prairies look. For the last four days, I have been on sick parade with an oversized stye, as though I had a shovel-full of gravel in it. The one good feature of the whole thing was that I missed a night move which always proves a headache. Due to the damage of enemy planes, only one vehicle in every section is allowed to carry headlights and these are merely fender lights on the dim. It is very hard on the eyes and nerves, especially when the traffic is fairly thick and the road narrow.
By the way, the siren has just finished its banshee wailing, so I expect to hear the drone of aircraft soon. There is a heavy fog on the ground tonight, which eliminates any possibility of target bombing, but this never seems to matter to our friends. The water was turned on in our billet yesterday after five days’ delay, due to the bomb which burst the main. You have no idea what a bother it is when the water mains are severed as it means no water except that which is brought from house to house by the water company. The moment the scrap is over I will be home on the run. I had a picture taken the other day and will enclose one of the prints.
It was just like a nit wit of a Norman to start a rumour in fun which might damage a person’s character, but perhaps when they know that I am still driving the Major, they will believe I was an innocent bystander in the crash. I have written to the R.A.F. for full particulars, but haven’t received a reply though I wrote over three weeks ago. I had made up my mind that if they would take me as a fighter pilot, I would ask for my transfer.
Two lovely whistlers have just landed near enough to rattle the windows violently, so I’m going out to investigate, so cheerio and thumbs up as the Limies say. These night raids make us all feel pretty futile and that’s one big reason why I am trying to get into the R.A.F.
