Letters Thomas Charles Richmond Baker 1916-1917 - Part 4

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having jolly decent sunshine

for a change. The rotten 

weather, as you will observe

by the papers, rather hindered

the progress over this way.

Air fights are a
[*several
a times*]

daily occurence now & it

is good fun to watch 'em.

Most however are well over

Fritz lines. He doesn't pull

us on too well. Our latest

planes are wonderful; you

would hold your breath

with astonishment at some

of the antics they get up 

to. It is a common sight

to see them go straight up

till they stop, then come

down tail first, turn a

Belgium.

Aug. 19th 1917.

Dearest Ma,

I am glad to say tha

I have just received a batch of

letters from home, dated June 4

Jove, I thought we wern't going

to get 'em, as such a number

of boats have been sunk.

I also had a letter

from Uncle Tom, who says

that they expect to put on

for "Aussie" about 25^th of

next month. I hope they

don't have any mishaps en 

route.

The weather up 'till

about a week ago has been 

very wet, but we are now

3.

few sommersaults, spin round

on their own axis, loop the

loop, do ditto sideways. Oh,

blazes, don't I want to be

an aviator. I get abso. green

with envy at times.

You want to

know how long a pair of

sox lasts; impossible to answer

that, but anyhow, thanks

to you dear people, I'm

well supplied. I can always

do away with any surplus

pairs. Sometimes they wear

out, sometimes they are blown

up, sometimes we wash 'em,

or lose 'em, or somebody

shakes 'em, & very often they

are worn 'till they wear off.

4.

I received a ripping

parcel from you Ma dear,

dated May 30^th. The 'Spooks"

enjoyed a jolly good supper

that night I can tell you.

Yesterday I received the

fortnightly parcels from the

A & N. They assist wonderfully

I say Um, could 

you remit, say through Auntie,

say £10 or so to the A & N stores,

as my a/c is just on played

out. If you will pay her for

me she could send a chq. to

be drawn from her a/c in London

If I get over to Blighty in the

flying Corps it would be very

handy 'till I get a start.

By the way I hope

you arn't forgetting their

6

that we have heard this

morning continues to roll in,

I mean something about the

"Froggies" doing well at Verdun,

the Italians getting about 7500

prisoners & the like, well

even if it isn't over soon, Fritz

can't win.

A pal of mine has

come to light with some

volumes of Shakespeare. I enjoy

myself to some extent. Can

manage to amuse myself for

hours at a stretch. The

worst of this life is that

there is absolutely nothing

to do unless you are

tying knots in a telewag

line.

5

birthdays for me.

I'm jolly glad to

hear that the 'farm yard' are ^is

doing so well. Of course I

couldn't half swallow some

junkett. I might even eat

a little rhubarb providing I

couldn't taste it for cream.

We are getting plenty

of strawberry jam now, as we

did last year after the season

Blighty is a wonderful place

for strawberries I believe. It

is a change after the everlast

"new jam," i.e. marmalade or

rhubarb.

I wish the dickens that

you wouldn't worry so much

Ma; take my word for it

I'm alright & if the good news

7.

I am expecting to

hear that you received the

physogs from the stores

all right. Distribute them

where wanted & remind

Jeff to do what I told

him to with one or two

of 'em. They are the

worry of my life, photographs.

I think we want

plenty of cigarettes. The

troops must smoke & we

are always out of pocket &

have never anything but

an issue fag, which, I can

tell you, is like a fatigue

to have to smoke. I

could always give away

a few hundred or thousand

for that matter of "Camel's

Special vi^rginia gold tipped,"

obtainable at 'Camels' Rundle

St, Adelaide for 3/6.100.

Now Ma dear, to

all the mob & push, I send

my love & xx es, wishes too

"Grace & good disposition attend

your ladyship" etc.

Your loving son

Rich.