#31

July 24. 1944

Dear Mother:

Parcel #13 arrived a few days ago and all it contained was very welcome. I like the chocolate you are sending now much more than the small bars. No cigarettes for ages now and I have borrowed some 300 and am on the last packet. Seven more Couriers have arrived together all moderately recent so I guess Dick got the one.

Yes the others and not you were correct in guessing where I was when close to Dick’s old quarters. Dick should catch up with the times. You haven’t had to use sixpenny stamps for ages.

I hope you managed to find a good spot for your picnic in the twenty mile radius.

Archie should be ashamed for his boat coming away from its moorings. I dread to think what would happen to me if I boobed on mooring up. I haven’t actually done any sailing yet. I tried to get a boat one day but not belonging to the Club couldn’t get the Snipe. And even with our air crew boat you have to be checked out by some ‘qualified’ yachtsman so it didn’t seem worth while. It is not on the sea anyway.

There seems to be a lot of parties around the mess these days. There was quite a brawl the night before our CO left and we never quite got back to normal as the new one is a drinking type and much more ‘one of the boys’.

One night we flew through a thunderstorm which was quite something. I was at the controls and the visibility was zero. Occasionally there would be flashes of lightning which were completely blinding for a fraction of a second. Anxious queries were coming from the galley as to whether the sparks were dangerous. Apparently rivet heads etc. down there were being charged by induction. Somebody said it was harmless and I guess it was because we came through quite unharmed. One of those that arrived with me has gone on a captains course so my turn approaches.

Three of us went rabbit shooting one day with a shot gun and a .22. The bag was one. Thr procedure was somewhat irregular. The first shot was made by pushing back the sliding roof of the car and standing up but this was not successful. The rabbits in the fields we covered seemed very nervous. Had I stayed in camp and sat on a chair outside my hut I could get any number any evening for they are plentiful here & not wild.

With love from
Tony

[Editor’s note: Transcription provided by collection donor.]