#37

Oct 5. 1944

Dear Mother:

Two more cartons of cigs arrived yesterday so that there is only one more from B. C. House to come. I have nearly 2000 on hand so it won’t matter much if the new system takes a little while to get under way. Parcel 18 arrived today. I am going to take the can of peaches over to supper tonight for my navigator and I. My engineer just got his commission and pushed off on a 48 to Belfast to get his uniform. I am going to try and get him to move in with me as there is an extra bed in the hut.

I had a letter from Peter a few days ago. He was in Belgium then and had even found time to go to a dance. He was out of the line a few days with tonsillitus but was back when he wrote.

Had a letter from Dick a while ago. He expected to be pushing off to France shortly and wrote from some place near Bedford. After 4 yrs in the air force he thinks he may get up in the air.

Everybody seems to think we may get a 48 next week and if so I may possibly head for Dublin and try some real ice cream etc.

Had some night flying last week and coped satisfactorally for a first effort.

I hope you are managing to get the apple crop off without too many labor problems. There seems to be no labor shortage here. Just outside my hut this afternoon there were about ten labourers with scythes chopping away at a tiny patch of a field. This afternoon I saw some apples in town, 7 d. per pound they were, but I think even the pigs at home would have passed them up.

Last night we had a wonderful show here—the RCAF “Blackouts”. I had seen it before nearly seventeen months ago and it was almost identical. The show came over when I was still in Bournemouth and I had been wondering when it would catch up with me.

With love from
Tony

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