Wednesday
Telegram to Stella
LEAVE CANCELLED GLASGOW = ARTHUR
Wednesday
Devonport
Angel,
Well, it would happen to me, wouldn’t it? At 10 o’clock we were gloating over the fact that there were only two more nights here and I discovered that, as I was in the mess all day, there was a good chance that I would be able to get away at noon on Friday! Then at 10.30 the bombshell fell. Four of us were called in to the Divisional Office and within ten minutes we were cursing heartily and deeply immersed in the throes of draft routine. Doctor, dentist (my teeth arrived yesterday!), kit muster etc etc. Before we got through the kit muster it was dinner time and we had to wait. We are going back after dinner and then we might have some idea of just where and when we are going.
At the moment all we know is that we are going to Glasgow and that we have to be there on Saturday which, I imagine, means that we will travel on Friday afternoon. So don’t send any more letters here. As soon as I can I will drop you my address but I don’t think you can hope to hear from me before Monday, apart from any letter I write from here. I asked if I could call home and report at Glasgow but they say there won’t be time. I’m sorry to have buoyed you up with false hopes and more so if I have caused you to put Chris off. There seems to be as big a curse on Chris’s visits as there is on my teeth. I’m beginning to dread the sight of them now. Every time I see them something seems to happen.
A thing which has just occurred to me is that as there is no August holiday in Scotland they have not thought of that side of things. There is no doubt we will begin our course on Monday. John Gray, one of the fellows with whom I’m going, is tickled pink because all his relatives are there and for years he spent his holidays at a little place about two hours from Glasgow. A thing which is worrying me is that there may be no naval establishment at the place we are going to, which would mean we would get no tobacco. Imagine that on my money! What an existence. Still, that may not be the case. It may just be that I’m disappointed and depressed. Anyway, I’ll leave it at that for the moment and perhaps I’ll know more this afternoon. If I do I’ll let you know before I post this letter. Bye for now.
We have just finished the finicky business of kit muster – everything has to be laid out on my oilskin, all neatly folded, a full kit to be shown with my name on every damn thing uppermost. Some of the P.O.s who take the muster are mustard and search for everything, right down to a lanyard, while others just glance over the kit. We got off lightly. We had a full kit, fortunately, and the P.O. ticked our names off and passed on. One of the dopey lads out of the mess, however, looks as if he is going to be in the soup. He left his overcoat at home when on leave, gave his knife to his kid brother, and left something else at home. He is likely to be supplied with all those things and the money stopped out of his pay, without having an opportunity to get his stuff from home. The collar of one of his suits is all torn and he may have another 29/- to pay for that! So altogether he’s in the soup.
All that, however, is a digression. We went to the drafting office again but could gain no real information. For one thing the P.O. there has got it into his head that we have to be at Glasgow on Sunday 1st August and that we travel on Saturday. But Sunday is the 2nd August so that if we have to report on the 1st we will have to travel on Friday! It’s a bit muddling to you I dare say and no wonder for we have not been able to make him see that Saturday is the first and that we are not likely expected on Saturday. As the Yanks would say, “Aw shucks!” I did ask about tobacco and he said we would be able to take it with us which means that we must be going to a naval establishment of some sort. We have heard that fellows doing the ord. tel. course are in a big hotel, but we don’t know if that is where we are going or not. It looks as if that is all the information we are likely to get here.
Many thanks for your letter posted on Tuesday. I felt very guilty when I read the postscript because by then I had sent the second wire off. It is the very last time I’ll wire you about leave and, as I said, I only did so because of your arrangement with Chris. If Harold is looking for odd jobs to do, you want to take full advantage of the chance. I have got the hammock so do you think you could get a couple of posts, about 5ft high, and ten feet apart, driven into the ground? If you can, I’ll try to get this thing off from Glasgow. We’ll have to wait until we get there to see what the chances are. Don’t make any promises to the children until it actually arrives! For one thing I don’t want them talking about it too much.
What a pity the long planned treat fell through! Children are like that, though, and I’m sorry the children draw disparaging comparisons! Milly’s garden seems to have been a source of delight. I should have liked to have been with you and I hope the promised cuttings materialise. They will give you the basis of a good fruit garden, but beware the loganberries. They spread like raspberries unless you are ruthless with them, I believe.
Well, sweet, I must bung this in the post if it is to catch the 6 o’clock collection. I should think you are safe to post letters so that they are delivered here by noon Friday. Anything after that is problematical.
Bye, sweetheart. I’m bitterly sorry to have raised vain hopes but I’ll never do it again. I’ve learned that lesson. All my love, angel. I adore you.
Ever,
Arthur X
Jul 291942