Transcription

8th Queens
B. E. F.
23. 4. 1916.

My dear Mother

Very many thanks for your letter yesterday. It was the first I had heard of Father’s accident. At last we have had a change in the weather & it is really jolly. It appears to exhilarate the Bosch as well, as he has been shelling a lot of the farms we live in on the principle I suppose that we should come outside & enjoy the balmy air & if we did not that he would let the balmy air in to us. Anyhow he has been strafing a farm about 300 yards away this afternoon. A lot of crumps came over but he only managed to hit a barn once or twice. When it was over the C. O. Sent up a policeman to see that our fellows didn’t go & pillage the place, as the people used to sell eggs & such like there & the police-man has returned to say that the people are still there, so they are evidently used to it. I think we shall emigrate from here to-morrow, as we are too far from most of the Battalion. We shall go to a farm which is further back & hidden from the Bosch, but which suffers from a battery of biggish guns of our own, which make an unearthly din & shake the whole place. Our billet of 3 weeks ago caught fire last night & has been burning merrily to-day, so the Hun is no doubt very pleased with himself. There was no one there however, but he is evidently still watching it as the C. O. & I went to look at it this morning & after we had come away they began on it again. I shan’t be sorry to clear out of here, as the roof room has no ceiling except the floor above, as as the upper story is inhabited by the men, the noise below is deafening especially when they do clog dances, when they have to be repressed. The mouth organs are in use all day long. I have just got one of the new steel helmets & look very imposing in it.

Love to all

Jack.