January 5th, 1941

Dear Mom,

I am just writing a short note tonight as there has not been very much happening to write about. We went on a scheme this morning, the first we have had for months. It was terribly cold - nearly 20 degrees of frost, and we rode in trucks. O we were cold! I nearly froze. I was so stiff when the scheme was over that I could hardly walk. But Mrs. Barnard - my landlady, gave me a hot cup of tea and that fixed me up. She has treated me wonderfully and I shall miss her very much when we move away, as it is rumoured we are to do on the 16th. There is a very strong rumour to the effect that we are going to march back to Aldershot. If we do I'm afraid there will be some very sore feet for we have only been used to marching short distances - about 15 miles. It is nearly 80 miles from here to Aldershot. I hope the rumour is untrue for I would hate to go back to that God-forsaken spot. By the way I wish you could write to Mrs. Barnard. I won't tell her about it, will be a great surprise to her and she will like it very much. Her address is:
No. 1 Rustic Villas, Tyler's Green, Godstone, Surrey.

And now I have a very important request to make. You know I have not been making any requests for the contents of my parcels. I have more or less left it up to you own judgement. But now I want you to include Gillette's Blue Blades in my parcels because in two months time there are going to be no razor blades in this country at all. I saw an article in the paper which stated that one razor blade will have to last its owner two months. Imagine if you can. I think if you send me one package of ten in each parcel I'll be able to get along alright. I had an unexpected stroke of luck the other day. Do you remember when I wrote and told you that we had packed our kitbags and sent them off to Princess Patricia's last May when we were going to France? Well I got mine back yesterday. So I've got plenty of clothes now. I have 17 pairs of socks, 3 shirts, 1 gym shirt, 1 towel and Sadie's sweater. Besides that there were all her love letters to me up till April 30th. I don't know what has happened to her. She hasn't written to me for nearly 8 wks. I have written to Blake to find out what is wrong. The last time she wrote she was very ill, so ill she couldn't finish the letter...so I am very worried. She hasn't sent me a Christmas present or acknowledged mine to her - or anything. I don't know what to think: whether she has died and they are afraid to tell me or whether she has just jilted me. If she has, I wish she'd write and say so instead of leaving me in the air. If I don't get a letter soon, I'm going to write and find out what's wrong.

Well, I can't find anything more to write about so I guess that's all for this time. Don't forget to write Mrs. Barnard.

Love to all,

Jim