RCAF Overseas
July 11 1943

Dear Mother & Dad,

I received both of your very welcome letters a few days ago and it looks as though the mail service is improving a lot for it only took them about three weeks to get here. I hope my letters are reaching you as fast as I'm receiving yours.

There seems to be very little news that I can talk about as there is very little that happens out here in the country. I'm really glad now that I have a bicycle to get around on, for
the nearest villages are about two miles away and they aren't very large either. It's quite interesting, however, to cycle around to these small villages as some of them are quite quaint with their little white stone cottages and thatched roofs-some nights I cycle into Evesham to see a show. It appears to be a very pretty place with the Avon River running through the centre of town and the park running alongside the river banks. Another friend and I rented a boat the other night and paddled up and down having quite a bit of fun. I noticed some people were fishing, but I don't think they would catch anything very large.

I received a letter from Uncle Jim the other day telling me that he and Aunt Florence were going away for a couple of weeks' rest on a farm about thirty miles from where they live. He said it was the first holiday they had had for quite a few years.

Thanks a lot for the parcel which is on the way; I expect I should get it in about a weeks' time. When I get the shaving soap in this parcel, I should have enough to last me for about a year, as I have two large tubes already. These tubes certainly seem to last a long time.
Did you have any luck in getting those Trump cigars? Cigars in this country are very expensive as the cheapest ones are about a shilling. Don't forget to include a few chicklets in your parcels as gum is impossible to buy over here.

By the way, Dad, have you caught any decent size fish at the cottage this year, or are the flies the only things that are biting?
I suppose by this time Douglas has been moved from Manning Pool and Howard is probably in the Air Force (or is he still working at John Inglis?). By the way, how are Howard and Lucy these days? I haven't heard from them since I've been over here.

It's raining out pretty hard tonight so I thought I'd better stay in a do some letter writing. I seem to be getting behind in it. Well, that's about all the news for this week. Will be writing again next week.

Your loving son,
Arthur

P.S. Here's a picture of myself & two friends taken outside our hut on the last station. We all come from Toronto. That's my corncob pipe in my hand.