Correspondence between Herbert Vincent Reynolds and his family, 1914-1915 - Part 6

remember the first time we met one another
in Egypt, they are getting on all right, then
I came across J Kernick, Madden, and
Stan Davies brother, I did not know him
when I seen him, and what is more he
was on the Berrima, and I did not
know he had left Australia. I met
Ellis last Monday, he is having a fine
time where he is, he is in with a decent
lot of fellows, we went into Cairo last Wed
and had a good time together, we had
dinner at the Hotel Metropole it cost us
12 piastres each, we done things in style
that night, we tryed to get a motor home
but was not going to pay another 2/6
although it was pay night, so we took
the ^tram car with the modest fare of 1 piastre,
Do not be surprised if my letters stop any-
time because we may move from here at
a moments notice, and we cannot write

when we get into action, I do not know
but I think there must have been a letter
gone astray, from your between ^the one written when you
were in Melbourne and the one I have just
received, I am glad you received the photo
allright. A small pocket camera would have
been very handy here, there are splendid
views here that are worth taking snaps of,
besides being very neat souveiers of the place.
There are some wonderfull places here, the
buried city which is not a ¼ of a mile away from
our camp is one of them, we are not allowed
to go near it though, it is placed out
of bounds, excavations are going on there
at the present time, the only view one
can get of the place is from the top of
the Pyramid. I expect the thir 3^rd
Contingent have lef Australia by this
I wonder if any more of the boys from the
district have volunteered, I hear that

Ballarat ^and district is holding her own in the
number of troops being sent in comparison
with the population, I hope she does
not loose xthe record, her boys will do
her credit when they are wanted, they
were on the spot when the trouble was
on along the canal, and are ready when
wanted now. I have not had any word
from any one besides S Davies since arriving
they must excuse me for not writing, although
that need not stop them from sending along
a few lines now and again. The weather
is getting very hot here now and when the
wind is blowing "like it is today" we get
a lovely time of it. This is the place to spend
money, our pay is gone a couple of days after
whe we get paid, and then we have to
do - the best we can for the rest of the
fortnight this is about all I can write
today hoping you are all well yours truly
Bert

Egypt
March 13^th 1915
Dear Mother
I received your letter of
Feb 9^th last Thurs, that is only the third
that I have received from you since
we left Australia, there must be some
gone astray somewhere. Things seem
to be pretty bad in Victoria, but
they are sure to improve now that
the drought has broken, the water
supply seemed to be in a bad way.
I was pleased to receive the newspaper
cutting. We are having a pretty rough
time here, last Thurs was the worst
day we have had since arriving, the dust
and sand was blowing all day, at
times you could not see 100 yards in
front of you, I had a leave form, but
did not make use of it until about 3 pm

when I took a run into Gizeh and
went through the Zoological gardens.
they are splendidly laid out, and
the colection of animals although
not very large is a splendid one,
there are some splendid giraffes,
and the lions are the finest animals
of their kind that I have seen. I
was disappointed with the place,
from accounts I expected to see
a far larger place, what animals
they have there are splendid specimen
of their kind, but there is not near
as large a collection as I expected
to see. I have not seen Pete for
over a fortnight, W Raine, was over
looking for me last night but I
was out, he wanted to see me about
a reunion of the Sebas boys here
or something of the kind.

You did not state in your letters
whether you are drawing my pay
all right I have been wondering
about it. The 3^rd Contingent
arrived last Monday and they
are camped out here at Mena on
the ground where the 3^rd Brigade
were. There are some very unfavourable
remarks in some of the papers that
the chaps have received here, about the
way the troops here are behaving,

whoever was the cause of the reports
ought to come here, and do his little
bit along with the rest instead
of spreading reports as he is doing
about those who have left the comforts
of home, and are roughing it here, if he
knew the facts of the trouble we would
not mind such headings as "McLaurens
Rag time army". but he ought to get

6 mths for other headings which are
appearing in the papers. There is a
tremendous amount of sickness and
disease. here, but not of the kinds which
are being reported in the papers.
This country is about the worst that could
be found to put the Australian troops
into, but under the circumstances they
are behaving very well certainly there
are a few who cause trouble but they
are ^only those under the influence of drink.
I am sorry that the picnic was a
failure. this is about all the news
this time hoping you are all well
yours truly
Bert

1^st Field Ambul
1^st Aust Division
AIEF
Egypt
Sat March 20th
Dear Mother
I have had no mail
since last week, although an Austn
mail arrived here last Sund, I
cannot make out where my letters
are going as other chaps are getting
theirs regularly, only 3 of your letters
have reached me since we left
Australia, and that is 13 weeks
ago next Tuesday. I have written
every week and expect you have
done the same. There were 14 of us
taken in a group photo in front
of the Sphinx last Sund, but it
turned out no good at all, we intend

to return the photos and have
another one taken, when I hope
more of us can be in it, there
were about 8 away last Sund but
we had the photo taken as we
expected to make a move out
of this camp this week, but did
not do so. I had no idea
that there are so many chaps
from Sebas here untill last
Sund, a good number of them
have enlisted in other parts of
the state, where they were working
and living. The first surprise I got
was when one of the Jensens came along
he did not know me, but I guessed
who he was, his brother was is here also,
but was unable to be here. then when
they said one of the Taylor's could
not come as he is in the hospital

(3)
I got another surprise. he is one of
the bobbies sons. Those in the photo
are J Allen, Jonty Raine, J Kimberly
J Kernick, F Stevens, W Madden,
B Smith, and myself who enlisted
in Ballt and those elsewhere are
Jensen Humphries Beardon Renfrey
Telfer and Jock Whidburn. There
are a fair number from Sebas and
they will do their bit along with
the best, I got a surprise when
I first seen W Madden & J Kernick
it is the best thing that happened
to them coming away here, they
will be all the better for it when
they get back, you might see in
the Aust press reports about the
disgraceful conduct of the troops
well dont worry yourself about it
as it is absolutely without