Thomas James Richards, Diaries, Transcript Vol. 2 - Part 21

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I feel more contented now that there is something
definite in the air but I hope most sincerely that we go
to Greece instead of back to the Peninsula in the wet and
cold without room to move about.
I spent a fairly pleasant afternoon and night in
the city.
17th October, 1915. The Sergeant-Major has rubbed my name
off the embarkation roll for to-morrow as the dentist is not
yet finished with me. I don’t know whether to be glad or
sorry, but at any rate it will give me a chance to find out
whether the Australians are remaining in Gallipoli or going
to Greece. If the latter, I will go like a shot, but I
don't want any more of Gallipoli.
I saw the dentist at 11 a.m. and had lunch at the
Italian house and went down to the Soldiers Club rooms
and wrote to Mother, Hollingsworth and Bro. Bert. I sent
Bert some Egyptian stamps - 2/- worth. I have a parcel
ready for Mother and will probably send it on tomorrow
now. It contains an Egyptian designed brass bowl.
At night I met some five 1st Field Ambulance
fellows and we went to a Greek picture show where the Arab
children kicked up a terrible row with their shouting,
shrieking and whistling. They are the wildest youngsters
I have yet seen and the country towns in Australia are bad
enough too.
We had more to eat and drink when the show was
over and wandered off for home quite happily.
18th October, 1915. At 5 o'clock this morning the
reveille sounded and three-quarters of an hour afterwards
some 450 men stood packed up and ready to go back to
wherever the powers that be might direct. There was a
good deal of noise and some drunkenness last night. One
fellow persisted in accusing someone in the tent that I
 

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live in of stealing his blanket and his hard words went on
for quite a long time until I came along and discovered
there was nobody in the tent at all nor did they come home
for some hours later and then in a lovely merry condition.
The poor chap who lost his blanket took a lot of convincing
that he had been rating a empty tent.
I packed up my kit bag and went to see the
fellows away but on returning a few minutes later found
that my bag had been emptied out and looted. My 
muchprized "Baedkerer Guide Book on Egypt" was stolen along with
two razors, a bundle of books bought only the night before
and still unwrapped (25 piastres worth). Bill's pair of
fur-lined gloves were amongst the missing also. It was a
dmaned shame and nearly made my cry out in anger.
19th October, 1915. It is one year ago to-day (365 days)
since I sailed down Sydney Harbour in the drizzle of
early morning, with my eyes fixed on beautiful Sydney and
wondering if I would ever again race across the bay in/the
Manly boat. The two prominent pine trees on Sydney Road
towards the Spit marked a spot nearly where lived the girl
who entangled me in her coils - and to-day that is forgotten 

by her. She could not go the distance, she was no
stayer, and is now the promised wife of another man and
good luck to them. May she make him happy and be happy
herself in so doing. A whole year under active service
conditions is a long spell, and to go through the horrors
of Gallipoli Peninsula is more adventure and novelty than
I again want to see but alas, I suppose I will be there
again ere long and probably at Gallipoli too much as I hope
and pray that it will be Greece.
Yesterday afternoon I pinched out of camp
and went out to Montazah, where I met by appointment Miss
Banister and spent a very pleasant hour in her company.
 

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The companionship of a woman is a wonderful tonic to a
man who has had such twelve months as I have been through.
The trouble is that my money will not permit me to entertain
this bright little woman as I would like to. She is a nursen
but not so glum and professional as most of them that I run
across. In Alexandria I can recognise the features and
style of the elderly English nurses. I don’t know whether
it is because they are old maids or whether it is their work
that gives them their peculiar countenance and carriage.
Anyhow, I meet this girl as though she were just the good
happy-go-lucky woman and enjoy her.
I saw the native fishermen at work in the
Western Harbour which was the only harbour in the Roman
period but now the Eastern Harbour is the sole factor of
Alexandria. The fishermen had a deep net of a very small
mesh and some 250 yards long. Eight men hauled it in
on to the narrow landing on the Esplanade and got only
three decent fish for their labour. This sea wall over-looking 

the old lighthouse 590 ft. high should one day be
the beauty spot of
20th October, 1915. Nothing much doing around the camp
to-day but pay day. I busied myself sewing a pocket into a
pair of shorts which I cut down and hemmed up. Hemming
is slow and tedious work but I did the whole job in a
very pleasing way, not leaving a single stitch showing
on the outside. The one great mistake was cutting them
too short - so short indeed that I felt as anxious as a
timid girl with a hole in the heel of her stocking. It
troubles me most when sitting in the tram car or talking
to women when sitting, but still I cannot alter it now.
I would not do all the stitching over again for something.
Miss Banister did not come to hand on the
5.25 train from Montazah and so I wandered into
Alexandria from Sidi Gaber alone, and extremely disappointed.
 

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I had a good four-course dinner with a bottle
of wine for 8 piastres (1/8) and then walked to Kodaks, got
a roll of badly-exposed films and off home to camp.
21st October, 1915. I made one of a party of twenty to
go out to Mex and spend a few hours oiling and cleaning
cycles - a rather dirty job. I went off into Alexandria
at 2 o'clock but missed the 3.10 p.m. train for Montazah
so I trammed to Victoria and donkeyed to Montazah - a
distance of 5 or 6 miles.
The wastage of Army stores is appalling.
The state of those 200 or more cycles was very bad indeed.
They were taken over to the Peninsula and not being required
they were returned to the store without grease or oil.
The recklessness of the motor drivers is the cause of many
natives being killed and cars wrecked and worn out.
At Montazah I found that Sister Banister had
been ill for two days but greeted me very well and after
staying in the grounds with her I had a sprint to catch
the 10.20 train for Mustapha, where I got in past the
guard unseen.
22nd October, 1915. On the oiling and greasing of the
bikes again to-day but we got away and back to camp by
2 p.m. where I drew £2.1.2 which I am not really entitled to
as we are only allowed £1.O.7 (an Egyptian pound) a week,
but knowing the pay corporal means everything. Some of our
soldiers have gone as far as to give 10/- to the pay clerk
to put their names through for £5 and £1 is given for £10,
and so the corruptness of the Army is again manifest.
I have often said the whole system is rotten and the more
I see the more convinced I am about it.
 

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I have done no writing for a long time and I
cannot get down to it at all. Life is so unsettled and
uncertain.
I have been puzzling a good deal over this
Balkan question and it seems a very complex proposition,
Why Greece and Roumania remain so silent is difficult to
account for !! It makes me wonder whether or not they are
playing a waiting game under instructions from the Allies.
and whether or not they are waiting until the Central
Powers come down through Serbia and then jump in behind
and cut them off. I doubt nevertheless if the Allies have
the initiative to carry such a patient bit of play out
properly. My experience is that they just bungle bungle
along from day to day, and again the German Powers are going
to smell a move of this kind and protect themselves accordingly. 

I've got an idea that the Central Powers will link
up with Turkey right enough and make things very merry for
the Allies all around. It will be a remarkable piece of
work if it can be successfully accomplished and means that
from Berlin to Bagdad will be a cleared and fortified line.
If successful the Kaiser will surely stamp himself a better
organiser and a more capable soldier than ever Napoleon was.
The fact that German troops are now at a standstill in
Russia makes me think that the German troops are simply
resting and bringing up the railways that they are digging
up in Belgium. I now have a greater respect for Germany
than ever before and though I long to see her crushed
once and for all, I sometimes doubt as to our (the Allies)
power to do so and that the war will end deadlock.
23rd October, 1915. I had another disappointment in waiting

for the Sister to-night. She did not turn up and I
know full well that it was in no wise her fault. I went
and had a good dinner alone and then went to a picture show
where the patrons are so mixed that the programme has to
 

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be printed in four languages. - English, French, Greek and
Arabic. The hall is quite nice, the people most pleasing
and well-dressed. The show commenced the second performance 

at 9.45. I enjoyed it very much until half-time
(10.45) and then went along to a fashionable cafe and had
some cake and coffee which was splendidly served and so very
tasty, but the part I enjoyed most was watching the French
people seated so comfortably and peacefully around. They
seemed to be more at home than the average person is in his
own home.
I got back to camp at 11.40 p.m. and then
the picture shows and cafes showed no signs of closing up.
24th October, 1915. On the early morning parade a whole
batch of fellows were warned to be ready at 7.30 a.m. on
the following day to proceed "overseas." I was called
amongst the party and felt almost glad to have another run
across to the front, be it either Greece or Gallipoli.
My mind was not of that opinion some weeks ago but I am
a much better man in both body and mind after the spell I
have had, and I am therefore pleased to again join my unit.
Still I wish the stores were open so that I could buy some
films. The rotters who looted my bag stole 14 rolls which
alone represents 14/- and I hear that films are very short
in Alexandria at present. I went into the city this
morning and bought Prescott's "Conquest of Mexico", some
notebooks and other oddities. The better class of stores
do not open on Sundays here but all of the bars and other
grade of shops are as busy as at other times.
I went out to Montazah and collected four
parcels - 2 from Mother containing ginger nuts, dates, figs,
a 3 lb. cake, a cake in a tin, toothpaste, Oxo and other
things. From Maggie I received a large bottle of Malted
milk tablets and some shaving soap etc. A great surprise
was the parcel from Abercrombie, Oakley containing paper,
 

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envelopes, socks and small things. This was so extremely
kind of them as they have not even written to me.
Mackenzie brought my mail of some 10 letters
from Mex. to-day. They were a bright lot and I enjoyed
them immensely, more so as several came from unusual
quarters and were written with much sympathy as my name
appeared in the Sydney papers as being in the Cairo Hospital.
At 6 o'clock I met Bannister at Sidi Gaber and
we took a cab to the Gardens and into Serens for dinner,
getting to Montazah at 12 o'clock on donkeys. I donkeyed
six miles back to Victoria and just missed a tram car.
This necessitated a walk of four miles back to camp where
I landed, after being halted several times by the guard, at
2.40 after a most remarkable night's adventure. The night
cost about £1 but it was worth it as this woman is so real
and pleasing, and by God I have suffered so from want of
female consideration and companionship that it's worth much
to be alone with a pleasing girl for a few hours. She was
a brick to take on the donkey ride as she can’t ride a
bit and six miles is a long way over sand for a novice.
I spent freely also as it was likely to be
my last outing in Alexandria at any rate for some time.
25th October, 1915. I got up before daylight to pack up
and go on early parade. I got this nicely done by the
"fall in" at 7.30 and we were soon making for the wharf
in tram cars, a party of some 140 strong. After some
little delay we were lined up and checked like cattle.
Then the lieutenant (a splendid young fellow) announced
that ten men would have to remain behind and called for
anyone wishing to do so. Nobody would volunteer to stand
down, so they decided to count out every fifth man in
the line and without being pleased or otherwise I was
the first five, so here I am to-night in Alexandria for a
 

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unknown length of time while the other fellows are dodging
submarines at sea. I believe I would have preferred to
have gone on but as fate decided upon me to stand down I
followed the old adage "What is, is best" and here I am
writing in the Y.M.C.A. while a concert progresses.
26th October, 1915. I got let in for guard duty for
to-night so I just altered the date on a pass (I have about
six of them) and trammed out to Sidi Beach where I expected
to find Jim Broad but did not do so. There are several
transport sections at Sidi Beach. A donkey at 2 piastres
is necessary to get to them. The camp is in the sand but
only a few yards from a lovely sandy beach. This camp is
easier to get at than Mex and a whole lot better too.
Failing Jim Broad I walked on some three miles to Montazah
where Mrs. Broadbent welcomed me but Sister -
referred to on the last page turned me down, not out of
ill-favour but through having so many irons in the fire.
I caught the 2.6 p.m. train and returned to camp and had
tea. By the way, our meals have improved wonderfully
here since the big batch went away. We get butter, jam and
tinned fish for breakfast. I again suspect robbery of
same when the big crowd were here. I went on guard with
a gun, 20 rounds and a bayonet and drew the 10 till 2 a.m.
watch over the kit-bag store and of course got no sleep at
all.
I asked the W.O. about A.M.C. men doing
armed pickets but he said we had to do it nevertheless.
Our war news about Serbia is very unsatisfactory.

The Bulgar have cut our railway line right
enough so that Serbia is in a damnable corner.
 

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27th October, 1915. Nothing much doing about the camp
to-day and not having any sleep last night has kept me in
the tent most of the time.
I drew £3 to-day which leaves my paybook about
£3 overdrawn. I am lucky about this - thanks to the pay
corporal (a Manly boy). I will only be able to draw the
£1 a week which will do all right now. One fellow I know
has torn a page out of his paybook so as to cover up the
fact that he is some £12 overdrawn. These Australian
soldiers are up to every possible point. It's just
marvellous what bare-faced things they will do.
I waited in vain at Palais to-night but
discovered a little music hall and pleasing-looking hotel,
where I will have dinner to-morrow morning. The music hall
show which depends chiefly upon the drinks it dispenses
was patronised by some 70 soldiers - Australian, English,
French and Indian,and a small number of other folk.
The best of the three artists I saw was a wonderfully
self-possessed French girl who, of course, sang in French,
but she seemed so happily at home and easy in her actions
that everybody loved her.
28th October,1915. I was the luckiest man in the world
to miss guard duty this morning. They cut our squad up
to such an extent that there were only four men left in
the lines. I was one of them and we were warned to stand
by for the day so naturally I made good while I had a chance
and kept off parade and away from the camp all day long.
To ensure safety I went on sick parade and showed the doctor
my slightly swollen big toe joint, and he is taking me
seriously too so that I should be pretty safe for three
days.
Anyway, whatever came I had to keep my self-made 

appointment with my Sister at Palais for 5.50 p.m.
This I did, and to my glory she was there, so we had a
 

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good time together.
The afternoon I spent at a pretty little hotel
in the garden reading Prescott's "Mexico." A glass of port
wine, a cigar, a few words with an English nurse who
jested about the Australian and his love for the canteen.
There are all kinds of rumours about our various
transports receiving orders for Greece. I will go out to
Mex and see about things.
29th October, 1915. I cleared out of camp this morning and
went out to Mex Camp where I had dinner and tea. The
fellows there are as wild as hell to think they have
never been to the front. It is breaking their hearts altogether. 

I also think it's a crying shame to keep them here
when there are so many sick men that could take their
places over here.
There are hundreds of pubs in Alexandria, as
there does not seem to be anything in the way of a decent
licensing law here. The duty on spirits must also be small
as a square Johnny Walker only costs 2/6. The fellows
can't do any better than wander into town, have some beer
and go off home again.
30th October, 1915. I was afraid to go on parade this
morning for fear of striking guard and as I have an appointment 

this evening I can’t take any chances, but I learn
that no guard was drawn out this morning anyhow, so my
scheming was in vain.
I have been writing letters all the morning -
one to K. Evans seems a pathetic kind of thing and runs
onto ten pages, dealing with my strange experiences on
coming back from the front and particularly on meeting the
first woman on the hospital ship.