Commenced work again 5.0. o’clock. Had bath first thing after breakfast. Went to bed and stayed there until after dinner. Had late dinner and lay down again. Went into grounds after tea and read and tea and did a bit of French. Glorious night.
Rumours that the British have had a nasty setback.
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Up at 5.30. Felt chilly sitting. Got everything cleaned up and had breakfast. Went to bed about 9 o’clock. Slept very well†. Up at 2 o’clock. Glorious day. Received letter from Hilda Linfoot in New Zealand1. Lay down out on the grass in the grounds and read. Harvey with me. Went on duty at 7.30. Massaged the legs of Lieutenant Radford, took temperatures of officers etcetera. Sat up until shortly after midnight. Didn’t go to bed. Simply sat in the chairs.
Up at 6 o’clock. Got ready for the march. Fine morning. Arrived at Mont des Cats12 at about 1 o’clock. Very hot on the march and the heavy bank at the end nearly did us all in. A splendid place. An old priory or something of the sort with monks in it. A very large place. Watched view from the top. Had dinner and then went to our billets upstairs. On night duty. Went on at 7.30. Old Sergeant Wilson incensed†. Didn’t get down to bed at all. Took officer’s temperature. Sat in easy chairs to sleep.
Mont des Cats (B): 12km W. of La Clytte/Klijte (A), Michelin squares H3/I3. ↩
ALL brought home a postcard (image above) from his 1935 tour of his battlefields showing the Abbey at Mont des Cats, with a note that he had lived there for a week. Interestingly, the name “Mont des Cats” had been neatly excised from the card, presumably during WW1 for security reasons – but the card must still have been in the shop’s stock in 1935. ↩
Up at 6.30. Packed all up and ready to move. Left about 10 o’clock and marched to Le Clyte [sic]1. I had a touch of diarrhoea and fell out at Locre and visited a latrine there. Followed them up and arrived shortly after 6. Spent afternoon cleaning up equipment. Had a dose of castor oil. Went over Mont Rouge2 at night with Harvey and Holman. Splendid night and I enjoyed the walk. Sat on the hill and looked round a bit. Returned via West Outer [sic] 3. Went to bed about 9 o’clock.