full of work, 8.30 A.M. to 6 or 7
P.M. as a general rule. I am enjoying life hugely, however. To me
hard work has always been preferable to slack times, and I like
going at high pressure. Besides, this is such a grand job that
the work is a sheer pleasure. By Jove! if you only knew how much
happier I am these days than in any period during the twenty odd
months I had spent previously playing at soldiers in the "Grub
Department." It amazes me that I could have been so long
contented with work like that of the A.S.C. Well, anyway, those
days are over and done with, and a new and brighter era has been
ushered in. As a rule, I am now almost always in an incredible
state of grease and oil and grime, which, remembering my old
propensities, you will know delights me. The old gas-engine at
home was nothing to it. I have had to set aside a special suit
for daily use, as even with overalls on there is not sufficient
protection against grease, oil, petrol and mud. I cannot tell you
how supremely happy I am in my work.

Ambrose returned to his company from a course of instruction last
week, and he came across immediately to see me. We discussed old
times and old friends with great gusto. There are two other
Dulwich men in the battalion whom I never knew well, as they were
fairly senior fellows when I was only a kid, though I distinctly
remember both. Their names are Trimingham and Sewell. They were
in what was in those days Treadgold's House.

I am sending back by the same post a pair of spectacles which got
broken recently. Will you please get them repaired? I still have
four sound pairs, but I always like to keep up the set of five
with which I started in the War.

The breaking of the great frost created appalling conditions on
this countryside, which for some time was an absolute quagmire.
Even now things are pretty bad, though the weather improves
daily.

_March 20th, 1917._

Well, the Boche has retreated on the Somme, as most people
anticipated he would, though few imagined he would make such a
considerable withdrawal. He is a cute customer, of that there is
no doubt. He never does a thing without having a reason. Yet
there have been occasions in the War when he has entirely
misjudged the sit