Sep 051942
 

Saturday
Glasgow
My darling,
I’m on my own again this weekend. Charlie has taken a chance and beat it home to see his wife and youngster and I don’t blame him. John Gray has his wife and daughter staying at Rothesay. They came last weekend and leave for home tomorrow afternoon, so he’ll probably head back for tea tomorrow. I’m not worried very much about being on my own this week because I have had a chance to plan for it. Frank said he might be able to manage to get here and spend the evening with me, but I’ve had a wire this morning to say he can’t manage it. Still, I won’t mind because I’m going to see Celtic and Rangers play. That probably means nothing in your sweet life, but they are two of the biggest teams in Glasgow – one Protestant and the other R.C. As you will guess from that, there’s usually skin and hair flying, free fights among the spectators and bottles thrown at the referee, so I’m going along to see the fun. Then for this evening I have a free ticket for a YMCA concert which one of the fellows who is on duty today had given to him at a dance.

Sunday
The match did not come up to expectation from the point of view of fights among the spectators. Shame! On the field, however, there was a good deal of dirty play and a few of the lads in the services – all non-Scots – joined in a body to boo the dirty players! We got a bit of fun out of it, and no trouble. Another discovery I made is that service men can travel any distance on the tubes here for 1d for they are run, like the trams, by the Corporation. I was in the arcade here and saw some Tam o’Shanters for 2/6 and when I saw that they did not need coupons, I got one for Wendy. I have also got a couple of cardboard models of aeroplanes – they have to be cut out with scissors and glued together – for Michael. Then I suddenly remembered that I didn’t send anything from Aberdeen for Wendy’s birthday so thought I’d better treat them both alike. Perhaps, on due reflection, I had better put them away. They will come in useful for extras for Xmas. If I post them on to you, will you “plant” them until then? I’ll have them a few days yet.
Last night I went to the concert after having a single pint in solitary state. It was just an average show. Neither good nor bad, but it passed the evening away very pleasantly. John Gray came in soon after divisions this morning, having seen his wife off home, so I’m going out with him to visit some relations this afternoon in the hope of getting civvy tea! Then we will pick Charlie up at Central Station on his return somewhere about 7 o’clock. That will complete the day and put us well on towards the start of the sixth week of the course. Time is flying past now. Yesterday I asked the instructor what speed we should be doing and he said 18 words a minute at the halfway stage. My last results, as I think I told you, were 16 words with one mistake, so it looks as if we might be up to scratch on this course, for a change. I did half an hour on the perforator machine yesterday. It is quite a different touch and one snag is that you cannot see anything you are typing so you can’t tell when you make mistakes. That is the reason for their insitence on accuracy rather than speed at the beginning.
Now to answer your letter. Yes, another year gone, but I still try to be honest with myself, even though the boot nips badly now. Darling, you know how it hurts to say this, but don’t let us delude ourselves. Can you honestly see any likelihood of me being out of uniform in less than 5 to 8 years? I’m damned if I can. Your point about the difference between 1942 and 1917 is a good one. We have one army fighting and that is in the Middle East. Their successes(?) have been few and costly. Elsewhere we seem to make little if any progress, although soon after the Dieppe raid things began to look more hopeful. Russian successes on the central sector; Japs being hammered in the Solomons and New Guinea, as well as in China; and, best of all, the feeling that Dieppe was just the beginning of bigger things. Sometimes a feeling of despair and almost of shame at what Russia is doing by comparison overcomes me. That is the reason I stifle all serious thought before it can begin to take shape.
It is literally impossible to hear a programme through completely but I heard fleeting fragments of the ‘Marching On’ programme you spoke of. I heard what was possibly the best and most dramatic six sentences in the whole thing. They were the last sentences of all. The best bit of oratory I have heard on the radio for a long time. Was Liverpool mentioned as one of the most-bombed places? I didn’t hear it, but I heard Manchester!
I’m glad you have started on those pills. Tell me how you feel and PLEASE try to go through without missing a single day. The secret of them, as I have said before, is continuity in the prescribed period and to make sure that you take them all in that time.
Many thanks for all the news about Wendy’s schooling experiences. They seem to have some good ideas there, don’t they? Apart from the religious side, that is! Did you hear the Radio Padre telling the troops that three years of war had been a glorious happy time? I hope you can get Michael into school before he is five. It will do him good and will help you.
Now, sweetheart, I must be off – or rather I must write a note to Michael and one to Wendy, just to enclose with the Tam o’Shanter and some chocolate I’m sending for the party. There’s not a lot but it might help. Hope so, anyway.
Bye for now, sweetheart. All my love.
Ever your own,
Arthur X

P.S. Managed to get letters to Mother and May in the post yesterday, so I’ve done well in letter writing this weekend.