#50

February 8. 1945

Dear Mother:

The cigarette supply system has changed again. Now one can buy 1200 a month from London so I suppose there are no more individual orders coming over.

We are beginning to get rather fed up with our stay here. We should have been away ages ago and the date is forever being put forward. Yesterday Art Bellis and I went to Inverness. It was early closing and shops, pubs and restaurants were closed. We managed a show and two meals at the hotel. Hope to go in again tomorrow to see Gary Cooper’s latest technicolor.

I am a bit too far north to see your Scotch ogopogo. The parcel with the tongue has arrived but I haven’t opened the tin yet. Don’t worry about looking round for socks for we can get better ones here. They may be short but they are wool.

We have got one night trip in at last. It was a very black night and there were too many others around to make it much fun. Also we missed a recall signal and when we did get back were told that if we didn’t land immediately (and within certain limits) we would land on ice. We got down successfully on the second run and then saw the cause of the panic which was much more serious than I had imagined it to be. 2/3 of the way down the flare path was a block of ice about eighteen feet square.

Had three October Couriers yesterday. I am afraid they have a very low priority. I had a bad time with the stove one day eventually bringing the cast iron stove pipe down on my head and nearly knocking me out. I meant never to start it (try to, that is) again but found myself carrying on as usual. Three drawers are missing from the chest of drawers—used up by former inmates and I used the remains of a chair when I got mad. Now I haul wood over from the mess and try to keep a dry stock on hand. The batmen should do this but they’re hopeless and we now get 2/ extra per day in lieu of their services. They still make the beds and sweep the room so we are really better off under this new system. Others like Art Bellis used to get tea in the mornings sometimes so they are not so happy.

With love from
Tony.

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