p.

is not just as drastic as it seems to be on first sight.
Instead of getting #320, we shall now have #160. As our
total income is in excess of all the allowances, that part of
it is subject to the standard rate of tax, which is 10 [% ?]
in the #. So our actual reduction in hard cash is more
in the region of #80. And I have been thinking what
I can do to reduce my expenses & so make this reduction
not mean so much to us. Firstly, I can save about
10f a week on cigarettes - up to now, I have been
buying Players always, & never using my rations, which
I give to Chaimalzcki. I shall now smoke the issue
ones. And I always have a Gin & Vermouth before
dinner, which means 7 a week - in future, I will
have orange juice, which costs nothing & will be very
much better for me. And, I shall stop by infrequent
but expensive evenings in Tel-Aviv, which I never
really enjoy anyway. So don't be downhearted, darling.
We have already saved quite a bit for after the
war, & we are still prosperous enough to go on
saving a bit more. It is really very fortunate that
we are both thrifty, & both look forward to having some
money to start up with when I come home - both
feel that money spent together is the only way of
spending our money. If we were both a bit gay &
extravagant, we should be in quite a mess. And if
one of us was telling it fly a bit, somebody would be
feeling a bit peeved with somebody.
As for the income tax, I really am unable to work
it out myself. I only have a few of the Bank sheets
from you - & it is difficult to follow what deductions
have been made at source. And I cannot tell