Newmarket
26-6-19
Dear Mother,
Still carrying on. The tucker here is still pretty rough. I spend on the average 3/- a day in tucker. But the life on the whole is not bad. I spend five hours a day listening to lectures and the rest of the time is our own to do what we like with. We who are warrant officers need not even live in camp unless we like. The batman brings us tea and biscuits before we get up in the morning, cleans our Sam Brownes and our boots and our buttons, makes beds etc etc, and gets us hot water to make coffee with whenever we want it, and all that sort of thing. We have a debate once a week for two hours instead of lectures. I hope to give my powers of oratory (which you used to call “arguing the leg off an iron pot”) full play tomorrow in supporting the affirmation that “Greater facilities in obtaining divorce would make for human advancement.” It looks rather as though I am taking the side of the married men; if so, it is not (like the first false news of the armistice) a case of “intelligent anticipation.” We had a lot of fun last time on the question of the continued inclusion of women in men’s industries. Fortunately there were no women there.
I have become pretty close with a Russian Officer in a neighbouring camp of Russian Officers who have been returned prisoners from Germany and are going back to fight the Bolsheviki. He is a mathematician and wants to learn English to come to a university here after his war. I am helping him through the medium of French which he can speak about as well as I can. He is very interesting and rather socialistic considering he is the son of a baron or something. He knows nothing about his people, but is pretty confident they are all killed. He had a few rather exciting escapes himself. He is not as old as I am.
Still no news or letters from N.Z.
Yours sincerely
Neil