Diary of Alexander Sutherland Mackay, 27 October 1917 - 4 March 1918 - Part 2

19
14/12/17
Going down to the Waggon
Lines today & leave for Paris on Sunday
morning. Have 14 clear days there,
it won't be hard to digest.
16/12/17. Left for Paris this morning
fairly monotonous journey Left
Steenwerck at 8 am & arrived Paris at
8.45 pm. Were taken in Motor
Buses to Headquarters to report &
then round to our Hotels. We
went to the Hotel du Strasbourg
17/12/17 Shifted this morning to
Hotel du Violet very nice rooms
& comfortable. You pay for Bed &
breakfast & dine outside for other
meals. All day long we have been
roaming around on our own, no doubt
its an ideal city, xxxx beautiful
20
wide streets & magnificent buildings
statues & fountains galore.
18/19 Dec. Have put in these days
gloriously. Wandering round & trying
to make people in cafes understand.
its really good fun. Weve visited
Olympia. Alambxxxbra, Follies Berger
opera. In these they have promenades.
you walk round at the same time
seeing the show. The Ausies are very
popular & the girls are far from being
shy. Its useless trying to write down
the attraction of this place but one can't
help thinking its a waste of time
going to Blighty after this city.
20/12/17 Today went with a party
from "Blighty Corner’ run by a Miss
Butler, to Versailles. A Mrs Gorry
 

21
an American lady acted as guide,
she was tiptop, full of humour &
evidently a well educated & travelled
woman. We went right through the
magnificent palace built by Louis
XIII & Louis XIV. In these you see some
of the most valuable paintings & the most
magnificent ballroom in the world.
We also saw Louis XIV bed & the
congress room, in which the French
Presidents are elected. I believe the
Palace was built to accommodate
10000 guests. In practically every
room you see paintings, bronze or
Marble Statues of Louis XIV, Evidently
he was a very modest young fellow.
A good deal of the original xxxx
furniture & a number of the old clocks
22
are still there. You also see the
balcony from which Marie
Antoinette addressed the populace
when they marched out starving
from Paris during the revolution.
The grounds are magnificent but
the place was today covered in
snow & all the fountains were
frozen, so we were debarred from
seeing them in their full beauty.
I am posting books home.
21/12/17  Today we visited Eiffel

Tower, the big wheel the largest in

the world & Napoleons tomb. Post 

cards show the tomb of beautiful 

red marble. Tonight we have secured

a guide to take us round the city.

They have a peculiar fashion in

23

the restaurants cafes here. You

order another anything & they place

a saucer with the price marked

on it, on the table. As the dose is

generally repeated two or three times

by the Australians, you end up with

a pile of saucers like the Eiffel Tower

in front of you. The Waiter or

garcon counts these & hands you

your bill. In Paris no waiters are

paid & I believe in some cases have 

to pay a premium for their jobs.

They depend solely on tips generally

about 10 per cent. That means if

your bill rounds to 1o Francs, you

part up 11 Francs. This is the

case with everything even to Taxi

drivers. Taxis are much cheaper.

24

than in London & there are xxxxx

myriads of them. There appears to 

be no regulation for traffic as regards

the rule of the road they whip

along in & out offside or nearside.

However the lovely wide streets

allow plenty of room for operations

They have fine trains 1st & 2nd class,

a seat means the former, standing

the latter. One cant help noticing

the taximetres (horse vehicles or cabs)

the horses are the ^most dilapidated animals

Ive seen, all broken kneed & gone in

the legs. If a canny took on such

xx x animals in Australia, I honestly

believe he would be had up by

the Police for Cruelty to animals.

Apparently all the good horses
 

25

have been grabbed for the front.

the French girls ^in Paris are very natty

in their dress & much different from

those Ive seen in other French

places. Rouge Paint & Powder however

are in great evidence, although you

see numerous girls with beautiful

complexions & teeth. The shops are a

treat to look at. I saw nothing

in London to compare with them.

22/12/17  Visited today with guide

Fontainebleu about 40 miles away

we went first by boat down

the River Seine a very interesting

trip, then per train. This place

is the Country residence of Napoleon.

The Palace is beautiful but

to thoroughly appreciate all the

26

marvellous carvings in wood work

etc on the ceilings the mosaic

work, one would have to be an

expert. The snow again spoilt

the beauty of these grounds.

23/12/18 this morning went to

see the Church of Sacre Coeur. In

going up we travelled by a Train

run at an angle of 45% worked by

hydraulic power or cogs. I'm sending

Post cards home of the Church. I believe

they have been at it for 25 yrs & it

is still unfinished costing some

£200,000,000 to date. It sinks about

2 inches a yr owing to its enormous

weight. Ive never seen anything like

the interior priceless coloured windows

etc & the Altar is a picture. When we
 

27

went in they had hundreds 

of long tapered candles along alight, it

simply looked like fairyland.

In the afternoon went to Bike Sports

& saw a world champion xxx in a 

100 mile race paced by motor cycles.

That afte Of this race some 58 miles

was concluded today, the rest takes

place tomorrow. Only 4 entries, but

talk about a sight, this champion xxx ^never

left his pacer an inch & yet the latter 

at times must have been travelling 60

miles an hour.

24/12/17 }
25/12/17 } Just floated round the city

had a couple of long taxi

drives out to the Bois Boulogne & Eiffl

Eiffel Tower. Christmas Eve is the good

night here but things were quiet

28

on a/c of the War. Had Xmas

dinner at a Restaurant & Xmas tea

in good old English stile at another

English Restaurant. Nearly all

the shops are open today, you

would certainly never dream that

it was Xmas time.

26/12/17  Today went to Gaument Palace

reported to be the largest picture

palace in the world. Originally it

was a circc circus but since the war turned

into Pictures. Tonight visited the Casino

de Paris & it was one of the finest shows

Ive seen. The scenery was beyond

description, girls climbing down a

huge ladder formed all the Allies

& various flags, & at half time an

American xx crowd gave all the

29

ragtime melodies imaginable, one

could hardly keep still.  It was

undoubtedly the best show Ive seen

in Paris, all through the scenery

was beautiful. Gaby Deslys was the

the chief artist & no doubt she is

a marvel.

27/12/17  Just knocked round this

afternoon & went to the Zoo but

came a cropper. It was closed & coming

in I think I experienced the coldest

drive Ive had in my life. Sitting

in the front of the taxi, snow all

over the ground, I nearly fell over

with cold. We were not sorry

to get back to get our coats

Getting near the end of our journey

now & I can assure you we never

30

thought less of Fritz than we do at 

the thought of leaving now. The trip

has been an education to us, so different

in every respect to London Life.

I often wonder it wh what people in

Australia would say if they saw women

kissing their escorts in a cafe yet here

it is a usual scene. People take no

notice whatever. The free & easy life

all round probably makes an

Australian especially, appreciate it

so much.

Visited the Olympia again tonight

& saw a some wonderful dogs. A street scene

dogs in all sorts of costumes - soldiers

sailors girls old women, policemen, all

parading on their hind legs. They ring bells

open shop doors so forth, concluding with
 

 

31

a marriage ceremony. One could

really hardly realize the actors were

dogs.

28/Dec  Promenading the various Boulevards

filled in the day, one never tires of

viewing the shops. Turned in early as

we have seen most of the shows  & felt

rather tired.

29 Dec  Had a run round in a 

taxi but the ground now is simply

a mass of white. The cold is too

solid to remain out long, so after

visiting various cafes we came back

to the Hotel de Violet.

30/12/17 Leaving tonight worse luck.

so we have been taking our last view

of Paris. I wish the 14 days was just

beginning, a trip such as we have had

32

makes one dread going back to 

the line, & all its attending discomforts

31/12/17  Left Paris at last night & after

a very cold & tiring journey arrived at

Steenwirch at 6 pm tonight. The camp,

is only about 30 minutes walk from there

Its simply awful coming back.

1/1/18  New Years Day. Have done little

today except think about our trip.

Ronnie lobbed on the scene a while ago

I was pleased to see him. He looks well

& as hard as iron. We had a good yarn

I'm going down to see him on Sunday

if we are still here. At present he is

relieving a fellow on Paris leave, at some

farm.

2/3/Jan 1918  Trying hard to settle down

after our trip but find it a hard nut
 

 

33

to crack. Ground frozen hard
all day, you come some awful croppers
if you're not careful on the roads, they
are just like glass. We are shifting
Sunday I believe, so I won't be able to
meet Ronnie again, as promised.
We are shifting further out, goodness
knows for how long. Rumours always
originate when a shift is in view,
this time the popular guess is
Palestine. I sincerely hope so, we

would then dodge the Winter.

4/5 Jan. Cold bleaky days. Luckily we

have had a fire going in the office.

Ther roads are all frozen, horses

& men are always coming croppers, little

short steps are your only safeguard

6/1/17.  Shifted out today to new

34.

waggon lines. We reached our

destination about 2pm near

Strazele after a bitttle bitterly

cold journey. They had to spike

the horses shoes to enable them

to stand up. Every now & then

the guns & waggons use to take a

side glide & almost land in the

gutters. We are billetted in farm

houses all over the shop.

7/8/9/10 Jan. Snowing practically all

these days with cold winds blowing.

Very hard to take after Paris but

still the first two days after our

return were the worst. The gunners

are getting a brush up at drill,

little else doing. We are supposed

to shift again on the 15^th from

35

rumour talk. Have visited

the villages hereabouts, like all

other French places, every

second shanty is an Estaminet

or Eggs & Chips Joint. The latter 

get nothing from the troops, its

a change to stews.

11^th to 16^th Jan. Ordinary days, no advice

re shifting yet. There is a rumour

that we go back to our old position

in a week or so. Raining one day, snowing 

the next. I doubt if there will be

any particularly swine scrapping until

the Winter is over. Struck Davey &

Strangward - two Bulford mates during

the week. Going with them to a nearby

village [["Viense Berquin"?]] tonight.

17/21 Jan Very quiet days, tw very seldom see

36

even an aeroplane. Fritz the last 

two days has been either receiving

or sending over a good few shells. We

heard the shells bursting but see no

account of any stunt in the papers.

received letters from Elsie & Lily also

one from Mrs Mott. The oth other

portion of my Xmas parcel from

home arrived this week. Another

week & we will probably be off

into action again.

22/28 Jan.  Not troubling much

re Diary these times. Practically the

same every day away from shot & shell.

We go into action again on the 30^th

inst, back to the position we were

at last. We have been fortunate

in getting such a spell as we have
 

37

had this time. I sincerely hope the

posie is in the same state as we

left it, although it doesn't take

long for our crowd to alter things.

They seem to delight in chipping at

Fritz never letting him alone. The 

result being that he hits at us a great

deal more than he does to the

Tommies as a rule.

29/30 Jan.  Two very dull days, practically

nothing doing, simply loafing round

We are off into action tomorrow.

31/1/18 Left this morning per motor lorry

for our old position arriving about 11 am

We took over from the 11^th Battery amongst

whom I struck a fellow named Crawford

an AMC bod. He knew me but I can't

recall him. He lives at E Brisbane

38

Fritz is very quiet. Observation is

terribly bad owing to the foggy weather

so I hope we are in for a quiet period.

Fairly cold, the water is all frozen.

Three of us are starting a private mess

as we did when here last time. We

made a great haul from the outgoing

battery, they left much, bully beef, figs

raisons, spuds, tea xx sugar & oatmeal,

next to our dugout. Before our cooks

had time to operate, our hidden larder

was replenished to its full extent.

8/2/18.   Very quiet week, no shells close

enough to disturb our you rest to date

Fritz has been bunging a few overhead

trying to catch our heavies at the back

I don't think he has had much success. 

Owing to the foggy & windy weather,