#5      Nov 16. 1943

Dear Mother:

I got a Courier yesterday which is the nearest approach to a letter from home yet.  I don’t know where all mine has gone this time as some people are getting mail as recent as Oct 26.

We are back to ground school again—more to keep us busy than anything else.  We don’t like it—missing our morning coffee at the cafe nor the strict manner of the schools operation with no privileges and an almost hourly roll-call.  Also we Canadians cannot get used to their climate which is the same indoors as out.  It is alright to wear greatcoats outdoors but we have to keep them on all day in the classrooms as well.

I went to a good play tonight—a French comedy.  They play for a week here and then go onto London.  It is hard to imagine why this place with so many Canadians should be used as a testing ground.

Dick is trying to get leave for the first week in December.  If he is successful I shall have to wangle some myself but I expect that will be difficult.

I forgot to mention that up in London I saw Bob Knox.  Peter and I went up to his office but as he was extremely busy we couldn’t stay longer.  He seems to like his work and it takes him on occasions all over the Br. Isles.  In fact he was flying to Scotland that night so we couldn’t arrange a party.

We had an alert last night which got us out of bed and dressed at a very cold hour of the morning.  We could hear one Jerry and considerable ack-ack but the all-clear came before we were outside the building.

On Sunday four of us took a short train trip to the only large nearby port and spent the day wandering around.  The downtown area had been badly bombed out.  Walking around London where I did you did not notice particularly that there had been much bomb damage but here it was very evident.  We had an excellent lunch here after a few double scotches and gins to warm us up after the bitterly cold train.  You get used to mixing drinks over here because the scotch runs out very soon after opening the bar.

If we fly again before Christmas we shall be lucky.  On the other hand a Nissen hut probably in Scotland doesn’t sound very appealing does it?

Tomorrow is supposed to be the latest day for shipping off Christmas cards so I had better get busy as I haven’t started yet.

With love from
Tony.

[Note: Transcription provided by collection donor.]