Wednesday
Sick Berth, Skegness
Darling,
Just arrived here for the preliminaries such as a bath and, I suppose, a dose of salts before I get the gas tomorrow. There only seems to be four or five fellows in the dental ward, which will accommodate at least ten. Beyond that there is little I can tell you, except that the fellows who run the place seem decent enough. I’ve no doubt I shall be able to tell you more at the weekend.
For the third day in succession this week I have done precisely nothing. On Monday I was one of three for whom there were no jobs. On Tuesday we were excused duty because of the inoculation. Today I had to go to the dental surgery at 9am for small tests – the water test etc – and when I got back I found all the jobs had been given out and the Chief told me to lose myself, so I promptly went to the chalet and went fast asleep. Did I enjoy it?
Somehow the less you have to do, the less you want to do, but I had a lucky miss in having to go to the dentist for I missed a full day’s digging in that blasted bomb crater. So far I have missed every one of those. I only hope my luck holds. Some of the lads who were on the crater have come back worn out and swearing. Most of them had sore left arms from the inoculation and the ground they had to work on was just a sea of sticky mud. To cap it all, the order of the day in regard to dress – issued at 7am – was “no overcoat”. The officers responsible for that, however, must have felt cold for after dinner came the order “overcoats will be worn”. I should think so, too. It was far from a summer’s day although warmer than it has been for some time.
I shall be glad when this week is over, now. By the weekend my gums should be reasonably hard, or at least properly healed. That is one thing about having a job like this done here, you get more attention than you would give yourself at home. I will probably be in here for three or four days – until Sunday or Monday. At home I would probably have had the job done on a long weekend and have had to be at the office on Sunday night. Anyway, I can be sure of not catching cold in my gums here. The place is beautifully warm.
One thing I have just learned from a fellow who came in yesterday is that if you have a cough they will not risk taking your teeth out. I do hope they don’t keep me hanging on here for days. If they do I will miss a draft and that might mean another five or six weeks here. God forbid! The laddie who told me that says he was in here for eight days a fortnight ago and then they discharged him so that he could get rid of his cold.
Well, pet, must finish now. Harry Forman is going to post this for me. All my love, sweet. Don’t worry about me. I’ll be OK by Friday morning. I love you still, sweet. Ever,
Arthur X
Mar 111942