Letter from Harry Massey to Barbara Massey

6. minature little man called Jimmy, in the bar; he was a regular Canadian Pacific 1st class bar steward, & was quite priceless. He seemed to take a fancy to us, which was lovely, as there was usually a dreadful crush in the bar, & it was no easy matter to get service. But we had no trouble at all, & he always came straight to us. I've arranged it, that if we ever travel to Canada after the war, or his ship, we travel 3rd class, & have our drinks etc 1st class. I hope we have the opportunity.

We left the ship by lighter, & slowly pushed our way ashore - through the green sea. We then came by train to this place - Egyptian State Railways, built in Crewe. And here I am again in a tented camp, the only real difference being that here we are on sand - & at Oulton Park we were on grass. And you are not just down the road in a caravan - but that difference is different, & makes me feel I did not appreciate how happy I was at that time. There are other changes, of course. All the tents & mosques are lined, to keep themm cool, & this it does very well. All the poles & so on are of bamboo. And on the floors there is straw matting. But they are all the same shapes, & there is a wireless, & there are the Egyptian Gazette & Mail every day.

4. There is a letter rack, & red letter box = these of course, seem to me to be complete mockeries. Messing is 4/ a day, which is far too expensive, & is generally grumbled at, but the food is very good, & plentiful, & there is any amount of fresh fruit & vegetables. The flies are bloody, & don't seem to object very much to Citronella: & as this is winter, they must be simply foul in the Summer. Some people - seem to be able to allow them to crawl all over them -but I just cannot do it.

The weather is really glorious. The sunshines brilliantly from 6 in the morning, until 5 in the evening, when it disappears, abruptly, but not before producing a wonderful sunset. It is very warm during the day, & one wears an open shirt & shorts - except when the wind blows & then a jersey is necessary as well. It is most unpleasant when the wind does blow, as the sand comes up too, & gets in your eyes & mouth & hair, & fills your ears - & into the food, & all over all your clothes & bedding & everything in the tent. It gives some idea of what a sandstorm must be like. The evenings & nights are fairly cold - most people wear their drill suits. I have not got mine yet & wear service dress & feel just about right. I have four blankets & my dressing gown on top of my bed, & that is just about right too. I sleep, not in a bell tent as before, but

8. in a bigger oblong shaped on, & have Rex & Frank in it with me. So we are still together though I do not expect this will be for very long now.

There is very little to do here to amuse one's leisure time. there is some very pleasant bathing & I have been in a few tmes. There is an open air cinema, & being open air there are no accoustix & therefore the sound is not too good. I went the other evening, & saw Herbert Marshall in Woman against Woman - which we saw together years ago - do you remember? It was very bad.

Tuesday, December 3rd And there is still non word from you. I did not write anything to you yesterday, but I thought about you all the time, my darling, remembering that unhappy day last year, when our baby was born dead. You poor sweet, Barbara - it makes me cry to think what you had to suffer, & so unecessarily, & all for nothing. I don't suppose it is a day we shall always want to remember, but I know you will not have forgotten it this time, & I do not want you to think that I have either. You have been so brave & wonderful, darling, & things must change. I hope you could feel me thinking about you.

I am readings "what then must we do" by Tolstoy, at the moemnt - & in looking through the index the

9. other day, I saw there was a chapter on childbirth - so I read this yesterday. It is very stern & unequivocal - but there was one paragraph which made me stop. I don't know whether you will agree with it, but I will write it down for you - "Every woman, however she may dress herself & however she may call herself & however profound she may be, who refrains from child - birth without refraining from sexual relations, is a whore. And however fallen a woman may be, if she intentionally devotes herself to bearing children, she peforms the best & highest service in life - fulfils the will of God - & no one ranks above her."

I must send this letter away today - & I will send it air mail, of course. My last one was posted six days ago, & so I must not wait any longer, as there is some delay at this end before it finally gets on its way. One thing about my address, darling - it is very possible that by the time you receive this, my address will have changed, & the same with later letters. But you must not allow this to worry you or vex you up, I don't expect it will, but it is better to explain. Whenver my address changes. I will cable you at once, & so if you always work from the date, you will be alright. I am addressing everything to Stanmore - there is nowhere else to send to, but I hope you are not there - both for your safety & your contentment

10. And have you seen or heard about the scheme, whereby wives & so on of people serving in the Middle East can send, I think it is three, cables each month, at the usual inland rates. That is, you pay it for 12 words, & the address, irrespective of length counts as 5 words. Being an officers' wife, you will have to apply for the necessary forms, to the Under Secretary of State, War Office, London. At the same time, you might ask if there is any assistance they can give when you want to send an urgent message. There is no news about myself, darling - I am just stuck here until something happens & until they decide what to do with me. And so I must stop the letter now, to catch today's post. There is still all my news about the lease in Cairo, but that will have to wait until the next letter which I will send off in 3-4 days. And there must be a cable from you soon - I do not know what I shall do otherwise. I'm so miserable & unhappy now, that nothing else matters the least bit. But that need not worry you, my darling - as soon as you hear from me that I have heard from you, you will know that I am happy again & then by some means or other, cables or air mail, or both, we must hear from each other