July 18th 1918

My Dear Mother:-

Just now I am sunning myself in a small excavation somewhere near the front line. At my back I have a water can and between my knees an old rusty hard-tack tin which, however, is quite good enough to serve as a writing table. Since I wrote to you last we have had two moves. On Monday morning we moved to a small village about fifteen kilometres from our last home. Our battery were given a hut, which altho' not much in itself, was very nicely situated in a nice green orchard with lots of good shade trees in close proximity. The first afternoon we spent clearing out the old broken-down bunks in the various huts. Then, at night, it was [a] question of whether it were better to sleep inside on the rough hard ground or make a bivouac outside under a tree, the wet nature of the weather and a few ominous looking clouds made the latter seem rather a gamble. But we decided to chance it so Bob Paxton and I tied our ground sheets together, made a bivouac, put our blankets and coats inside, crawled in and dared the elements. We lost. About one A.M. it started to rain. We waited about ten minutes then it started to hail and there followed the worst storm I've seen since leaving Canada. We got rather damp but our ground sheets saved us from a good soaking. We finally managed to get our clothes on, grab our blankets and get inside the hut, but it leaked badly so we were not much better off. We made our bed on the damp floor and managed to sleep until daylight.

Then, last night we moved up here. Once more the music of the "heavies" charms away the night, aeroplanes playing with anti-aircraft fire keeps us awake during the day and the general air of expectancy hangs over at all times.

We are a good piece back but anything may happen at any time. I received a letter from you on Sunday, also one from Nellie dated June 14th. Did you have a nice time at Kincardine? Is Wesley C. getting clear of his worry? They will miss Murray Kirk when he goes. Had a letter from Fred Carrothers yesterday. He is back in the line again. Last night I also had a letter from (?) Regan, a lawyer, who was one of our clique when I was reporting in Moosejaw. He was over here for quite a while in the 46th Battn. but is back in Halifax again practicing law.

Well, I'll close this time. With love & many thanks from

Yours

F COUSINS