My Dear People,
Just a line to let you know I am quite well, as you can see from my address I am in London enjoying 4 days leave.
We came up from Hurdcott yesterday & must be back Friday night. It is about 90 miles up here from our camp. The tariff at this hotel is fairly high 6/6 for bed & breakfast, of course you can get it a lot cheaper than that but things are very stylish here & as I have a tenner to blow I am going to have a good time.
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I am drawing my extra duty pay of 4/6 a day here since I left the boat, so you should draw 9 weeks C.L. pay on my allotment for the trip over but after I landed I have got to draw it here. They will not let me allot it to home now as it might stop at any time. But if I am appointed Sergeant permanent on joining the Battalion in France I can allot it then as once you are gazetted a sergeant they cannot reduce you without a serious reason necessitating a Court Martial. As it is now you are pretty sure to revert for awhile on joining the Battalion. This means that I will be drawing 6/6 a day here which is far more than I need, but I suppose if I get too much I can bank it.
England is a very interesting country & London is a wonderful place though I haven't seen much of it yet. The only thing I have against England is that it is too cold in winter, there has not been much rain here since I landed only light just a little snow. But the frosts here are very severe. It will come in with a little rain or snow & then a frost. Now in Australia, after a frost you get a nice sunny day – but here you do not, it keeps frosty all day & the ground & roads are all frozen & that slippery that you can hardly walk about without sitting down sudden. The sun rarely shines if it does it has no power. It seems to be that if the sun does come out after an English frost, the air does warm up, the ground thaws & everything is sloppy.
I believe in March very cold winds blew but we have had very little wind yet. I saw in a Record I got (29th Nov) that you had a big wind storm home that blew Mackerode about. I hope it did not do any damage to your places. I saw in the same paper that Dave McDonald had been killed and A. Pohlner wounded. I have not got any more letters only the two the day I got to Hurdcott. I hope you got my cable & letter alright. Well I must close now as this is not seeing London! I am going about with my Corporal as a mate he is a very nice fellow & it is nice to have a mate here.
Hoping you are all well.
I remain your Loving Son & Brother,
Tom.
