turns to see if any of our letters have arrived – but in vain. We then do a little shopping and buy some little water coloured sketches of Egypt – camels and pyramids and so on. Three of the girls overheard Matron in her doorway say that we may draw £2/10/- in advance pay, three times a month, so we shan’t starve after all. We have written to the matron of the 61st general hospital, which is now in Nazareth, to ask for our letters to be sent on to us here, as Matron doesn’t seem to think we are going to Palestine at the moment and we pine daily for some mail. Bill comes over and we have tea brought to us in our room and then go into town for further shopping. We have not long deposited Bill at her bus station and now I am trying vainly to get this journal up to date. I shall fall into bed any moment now …
September 23rd 1940
To the bazaars to pick up our dressing gowns and slippers and then we purchased other materials for mats and coverings for our future home or hut. I spend between 2 and 4pm ironing quite happily, and then after eating a large and luscious mango we departed to the dressmaker for a fitting of our white tricolenes. We went to the pictures and then Raffles, and, as we had had no dinner, called in at the Casino and had sandwiches and coffee followed by an ice – vanilla, chocolate and mango mixed. It was delightful sitting there on the terrace, in the cool night, with the world going by below us: cars and lorries, Egyptians, Arabs, Australians and British soldiers, and a few QAs – the whole motley crowd. After many years we shall remember the nights in Cairo – just like this. And now to bed under the mosquito netting. We have just heard that the City of Benares has been sunk and all but a few of the evacuee children drowned.
September 29th 1940
On Wednesday evening Mahomet Ali hired a felucca 17 for us and we spent about one and a half hours on the Nile. These ancient boats have gone up and down the Nile unchanged for thousands of years. It was delightfully cool, scudding through the water with the starry sky above us and the palms and hibiscus lining the river banks.
On Thursday Bill came in from Helmieh, looking very worn and tired – they all loathe it out there – so preserve us from ever following suit – and may we yet land in Palestine. We went to Tommy’s Bar for sandwiches and coffee instead of having dinner at the hotel.
Yesterday I had a letter from Mother re-addressed from Colwyn Bay and one from the padre whom I had befriended in London. I had a siesta after lunch and needed it – and a final warning from Flossie, the Matron-in-Chief, that we must not in any circumstances have anything to do with, what they are pleased to term in the army, ‘other ranks’, which means that our fellow Australians, who are not officers, we must firmly but tactfully ignore. 18 How lacking in all feeling and humanity the army is. Now we have been allocated a separate lounge where we may not be contaminated by the mere rank and file!
October 2nd 1940
The Eve of the Feast of Ramadan
Bill Williams was off today, and came over from Helmieh last night to sleep. As it happened none of us slept as it was particularly noisy without and the beds creaked unmercifully each time we turned. We did some shopping and began the process of opening our accounts in the National Bank of Egypt, Lloyds’ agent there; in case the paymaster should ever think fit to send us a cheque. This seems unlikely, but it looks well to have a banking account, even though there is nothing in it.
As tonight is the beginning of Ramadan and we knew the mosques were all to be lit up, we asked Mahomet Ali to suggest something interesting for the three of us. It was decided that he should meet us at 4pm in a taxi and we would go to the Governate where we would watch the Governor of Cairo lead a procession from the law courts. This sounded interesting enough but it transpired that we were to have one of the most thrilling and
September 23rd 1940
To the bazaars to pick up our dressing gowns and slippers and then we purchased other materials for mats and coverings for our future home or hut. I spend between 2 and 4pm ironing quite happily, and then after eating a large and luscious mango we departed to the dressmaker for a fitting of our white tricolenes. We went to the pictures and then Raffles, and, as we had had no dinner, called in at the Casino and had sandwiches and coffee followed by an ice – vanilla, chocolate and mango mixed. It was delightful sitting there on the terrace, in the cool night, with the world going by below us: cars and lorries, Egyptians, Arabs, Australians and British soldiers, and a few QAs – the whole motley crowd. After many years we shall remember the nights in Cairo – just like this. And now to bed under the mosquito netting. We have just heard that the City of Benares has been sunk and all but a few of the evacuee children drowned.
September 29th 1940
On Wednesday evening Mahomet Ali hired a felucca 17 for us and we spent about one and a half hours on the Nile. These ancient boats have gone up and down the Nile unchanged for thousands of years. It was delightfully cool, scudding through the water with the starry sky above us and the palms and hibiscus lining the river banks.
On Thursday Bill came in from Helmieh, looking very worn and tired – they all loathe it out there – so preserve us from ever following suit – and may we yet land in Palestine. We went to Tommy’s Bar for sandwiches and coffee instead of having dinner at the hotel.
Yesterday I had a letter from Mother re-addressed from Colwyn Bay and one from the padre whom I had befriended in London. I had a siesta after lunch and needed it – and a final warning from Flossie, the Matron-in-Chief, that we must not in any circumstances have anything to do with, what they are pleased to term in the army, ‘other ranks’, which means that our fellow Australians, who are not officers, we must firmly but tactfully ignore. 18 How lacking in all feeling and humanity the army is. Now we have been allocated a separate lounge where we may not be contaminated by the mere rank and file!
October 2nd 1940
The Eve of the Feast of Ramadan
Bill Williams was off today, and came over from Helmieh last night to sleep. As it happened none of us slept as it was particularly noisy without and the beds creaked unmercifully each time we turned. We did some shopping and began the process of opening our accounts in the National Bank of Egypt, Lloyds’ agent there; in case the paymaster should ever think fit to send us a cheque. This seems unlikely, but it looks well to have a banking account, even though there is nothing in it.
As tonight is the beginning of Ramadan and we knew the mosques were all to be lit up, we asked Mahomet Ali to suggest something interesting for the three of us. It was decided that he should meet us at 4pm in a taxi and we would go to the Governate where we would watch the Governor of Cairo lead a procession from the law courts. This sounded interesting enough but it transpired that we were to have one of the most thrilling and
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