France

Jan.26 

Dear Cath:
Something seems to tell me it’s nearly two weeks since I wrote you last but it wasn’t because I had the chicken pox. The reason was simply this – instead of writing last week when I should have I put it off one day too long and as luck would have it away we went up the line again so the letter had to wait. Yours of Jan. 2^nd arrived Tuesday night. I knew before then that you had been sick though having rec’d a letter from Cliff. Hope you & Margs are both feeling O.K. again.

Well Cath, I’ve got a bit of real news at last – We’ve seen Harry. We happened to stop overnight in the same town on our way up here. Harry’s batt. Had come out just the day before and when he heard of our arrival he looked us up. You can imagine how glad we were to see one another & we had a fine old chat. Harry is looking just great in spite of the fact that he had been in hospital for a week with the gripe. He says he wasn’t so very sick though they are beginning to look for the [censor?] boys – they should be showing up here before long. Have you any idea when they expect to leave?

I’ve been giving quite a time with my wrist watch lately – the one that was presented to me a year ago. It kept fine time until we struck the trenches the 1^st time and then I got it full of mud & broke the crystal. Of course it stopped & I didn’t get a chance to take it to a jeweler until about 3 wks ago. However I had it cleaned up then & a new crystal & hands put on it & it ran just as good as ever. But of course as usual something had to go wrong – this time it was all Fritz’s fault. The other night he dropped about a dozen heavy shells just to the right of my post & the concussion broke [? ] [?] spring. So now I’ve got to keep my eyes open for another jeweler. That watch has certainly been a handy article though.

What do you think – I had the pleasure of seeing Charlie Chaplin at the movies yesterday afternoon. You know at marry of the billet there are movie shoes just behind the line for the amusement of the boys who are out for a few days. It’s the first chance Lawrence & I have had of seeing Charlie since leaving Canada so of course we beat it right down there as soon as we pulled in. The snow was fine. Seems kind of funny though when you come to think of it doesn’t it – raking Fritz’s parapet with a machine gun in the morning & [?] [?] a movie show a few hours later. But such is life.

Well I really must ring off for the time. Am [?] fine – hope to send along [?] in a few days so you can see for yourself. As ever

Sincerely yours

Leslie