p.

2
for breakfast. The whole lot was + 10% - & believe it or not, the
bill was £2-4-0. I had a nasty argument with the man, such
as you must have had with the black beatle in the Exchange
Hotel, Liverpool - & left fuming. And that memory gives a terrific
pull at my heart & whole body, but I must go on. But wasn't
that a lovely two days? I could just sit & think for hours about that
time only.

Well - I continued on my journey, & managed to arrive back in camp
the same night. There, it was a question of going on with & finishing
the training & preparing to move, all at the same time. And then
there was the move itself. And then having arrived here, everything had
to be sorted out, & within 36 hours, we had to step straight into full
duties. And ever since then, it has been a question of straightening
things out, & naturally, altering everything to the way I wanted it.
You see, this company is far more than a company in the normal way. It
is a completely self supporting & self administered unit - under higher
command, of course - & much more akin to a battalion. I am the
Commanding Officer, therefore responsible & answerable for everything.
In the ordinary way, a battalion has, at least, the numbers of a well
trained staff - but with me, everybody is new. A Bn has an Adjutant
& I have none. It has a Regimental Sergeant Major, a seasoned experienced
man - & I have a Company Sergeant Major, who was a ssergeant until
three months ago. It has an Orderly Room Sergeant, who has been at
it for years, & who knows the clerical side indside out - & I have a
Jewish Corporal, who was in business three months ago. At Bt has a
Company Quartermaster Sergeant, who was a sergeant in a horse regiment
until lately. I told you in my last letter that my second in command,
Behrems, had arrived: he is completely useless & hopeless & I am in the
process of getting rid of him. And my schlaterns are inexperienced.
So you see it all comes onto me. And God knows the Army is not
my job. But, by dint of working like a horse, I find that I can
manage extremely well - & now things are beginning to function, &