March 21st, 1915
Today is the first day of spring and it is really grand. The sun is shining and the birds are singing. The horses are out on the grass enjoying life and all is merry and bright.
I have taken some photos but will have to bring the films home as I cannot send them.
There are several aeroplanes circling above us, some german, some French and some English. Each one is surrounded by little white puffs of smoke where shells are bursting but they dont seem to mind it.
It is Sunday and we all slept in this morning. I have just had Bob out over a jump I got fixed up in the next field. - Here I went out to see them firing at another aeroplane. They never seem to hit them.
Elliot comes out of the trenches tonight and I go in to take his place. You can walk in in broad daylight, in fact it seems easier than at night because the flares thrown up by the Bosches sort of make you stop as you feel so conspicuous in their bright light.
Tomorrow we are going to give some of the drivers a little jumping. We had a fine football game this afternoon and the ground is drying rapidly. All day long and all night too we hear the thunder of guns, guns, guns. There seems to be no end to them.
Last night I went down to one of the French villager's houses. He has been showing Elliot and I a little about the country as he has hunted all over it (rabbits, partridges, etc) I sat down and we had coffee with cognac in it. One always does this over here. It is the custom and to refuse to take coffee is almost an insult. I told them all about Canada, the D.O.F. and the chickens, incubators, apples, Western farms, etc., Really I am a peach at French now. They have a baby they call Gabriel. She is just six months old and her predecessor also called Gabriel, died last year.
Today is a regular summer day and here at the guns there is not the least semblance of war except for the boom of guns.
My poor old motor bike got pretty well banged up on the boat but is running again cheerily as ever. It has certainly been very handy and we all use it for odd jobs. It is now the postman's steed and we always get our mail early.
