Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/109/1 - May 1918 - Part 5

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have done my work _∧from outside as a staff officer _∧as it were  -  Id I
don't know if I shd have mixed w them
more if the a unpopularity wh I gained
at Mena had not made me shrink from
living among / men - anyway I am too
self-conscious to mix well with a great
mass of men.
But here, this last week, living in
the Brewery at Querrien, wh is really
a farm, we have had a company
of the 21st Bn camped in / outhouses
 

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[* four heads on / side
here.
Spin her around here
Franc wanted!*] 

[[Shorthand]]
Lost  
Heads one.
Any on the side.
Heads ten.
Heads forty forty on / mat
We want forty
We want thirty five
We want 25.
25 on the c
25
Look here’ give em a go
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& barns around / yard. They mostly sleep in
the big lofts around the yard. There are ladders up to
the loft windows. There are also two or three barn rooms
on / ground floor beneath the lofts – I don't know
why there are so many barns. In / middle
o / yard is a sort of pit full of straw, with an
old low brick wall on our side of it - perhaps 18 inches
high. A _^ middle sized tree grows by / corner of the pit, &
another close outside this window where I
write. There is a small stack of _^ beech faggots by 

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the _^ straw pit, under the tree; and another tall one
against the white washed wall of the courtyard,
opposite to me. In that wall is a big square
dark opening xxxxxx into what must have been
a f room for / farm waggons. One o / great big
grated doors is off its hinges leaning against
the faggot heap. The other is sagging drunkenly
half on its side on its hinges - On the
floor there is straw. Someone has dragged
rigged a table there out of some boards - back
where the deep shade daylight fades into the 

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deep rich shade. Around this there must
be seats - boxes probably - for men
sit there all day long. The nearest seat
w its back to the doorway is a small
beer barrel. The opening has the appearance
of a stage & the group there playing cards
is a stage scene or a picture of Rembrandts -
Strong faces, loose brown khaki clothes, 
dashing of old hats, strong sunbrowned
faces intent on the game; easy strong
virile attitudes of half a dozen players & 

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[[Shorthand]]

Bump bump
 

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onlookers.

The first people moving every morning
are the cooks. I dont know at what
hour - but before the sunlight comes -
there is the sound of chopping of wood in / yard &
[[you?]] I see them in / grey light busy
around their cooker.  The_^yard pump _^in / corner starts
squeaking & groaning - they are getting filling the
water for into the dixies for tea. A few
early figures climb out _^o / lofts by / ladders
& move across / yard in stro shirt & 

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[[shorthand]]

corporal more
corporal proceeding
you're wanted down here
reinforce to them
have you got your rations 

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trousers with towels round their necks
to the cold muddy little stream of / Hallue
wh runs brimming & yellow w recent rains
thro' the flat unfenced meadows & w stumpy
willow trees in front o / house.
About an hour later the mess orderlies
cooks' work is finished. The mess orderlies
lift the dixies off the cooker & put them down
in various corners o / yard.  Jack An orderly
shouts:  "Here y'are - no 3 - Breakfast No 3". 

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Another is calling "Breakfast Number 4."
No 5 calls out for his crew platoon half a
minute later. The farm. yard has begun
to swarm. Men are climbing backwards
out down all / ladders around / yard
like bees crawling out of a hive -
moving like ants about the yard &
forming in little swarms around the
dixies. Then Most men carry a mess tin
& a pannikin - or a mess tin & / mess tin 

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lid, wh is itself a shallow dish. The
mess orderly kneeling by / big dixie with
a scoo ladle dishes out the breakfast:
biscuit porridge into the mess tin lid; tea
into / mess tin.  The bees move back
to their lofts or to / lower barns on / ground
floor; the stage room becomes a theatre
scene with seven soldiers in picturesque
attitudes seated round it talking while
they feed.  The porridge is eaten w a 

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spoo  One man reclines on the _^three steps in front
of / house door - a second man on / other
side of it - like the figures on the Parthenon
pediment or the supporters of a coat of arms,
& put their mess tins on / steps & reclining
on their elbows. take their breakfast regally.
Others side sit on / wall beside / straw pit.
This morning, as there ws _^also bacon for breakfast,
Each man brought a piece of paper onto
which the orderly emptied laid the bacon - one in 

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After the groups around the
dixies have melted a mess
orderly calls out. "Any more
No 4 platoon?" "Anyone in
No 4 not had his bacon?”
“Here's some more bacon
No 4,” he says. A One or
two come up & get their carry
back a slice. The orderly leaves
the dixie. Anyone who hasn't
had his bacon by then must help himself.
Two or three pieces of bacon lie in the dixie still.  Men Occasionally a man
passing w their _^his mess tins of tea hooks a slice with the wooden
skewer in / dixie - One slice lies there still - several men have come up,
turned it over, & left leave it - & there it remains - evidently
not a choice bit. 
[[shorthand]]
Towel for soldiers
[[shorthand]] of many
occasional shot - Pigeon
Chiff chiff of distant transport.
Quarter.
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twenty brought a plate.  Their br Their
bread they have by then - issued when I do not know.

You hear a man ask "What time's
Parade?"   "Nine o'clock" says another.
Breakfast being about 7.30 or a quarter to
eight there is a short interval -  Some sit
round the yard, on the foot of the ladder -
some are cleaning their rifles.  You hear the
locks clicking & rattling.  I daresay others are
cleaning their boots & kit in the lofts.  
← [*Take in 
X from 
next p.*]

There is always a fire crossfire of
chaff when the yard is full.  One digger, with