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Date: June 11th 1915
To
Family
From
Perry Sanderson
Letter

Bidgate Camp, Fri. June 11, 1915 Dear Folks; Well, here goes another epistle, not a great deal of news. This Y.M.C.A. is a good place; they have two great tents and supply paper and envelopes, have all kinds of books and papers, also a pretty good canteen. Well you hear all kinds of kicking on prices these days. The Englishman in Canada, every place we went in Canada would say " Wait, my boy, till you get to England and you will get as much for three pence as you do for a quarter here". Well, it hasn't panned out, they soak the Canadians-think they have the money. Stable prices are much the same but eats and many other things are just as dear and dearer than at home. The Englishmen howl and we do our best to rub it in. Of course Folkstone, where we mostly go, is a pretty high-class summer resort so they say and is naturally dear. Well, just the same they soak you and, the greener you look, the more they soak you. Example: some article -charged me three pence for five cent bottle ink; ordinary price a penny. Well, England seems not a bad place -certainly nice scenery and Folkstone is a joke. You are winding all over , don't know direction or where you are and it is only a small place. One of the principal streets has only about a four- foot sidewalk on one side -a street that doesn't look wide enough for a buggy and just a footpath on the other side. It is a comical site alright. But the hedges and the vines up sides of houses are good to look upon. Their methods of transportation buses are a failure especially now in the present congested state of traffic (in the form of soldiers). They can't carry enough, are rough riding and reasonably slow and seem to break down in the springs, axles, etc. at regular intervals. You are then forced to foot slog. There is a convalescent camp so we get some idea of the trenches first handed. We see lots of aeroplanes as they are scouting around every day. Have not seen Geo. Blackwell-he must be in the country somewhere, As there are twenty-five thousand Canadians between here and Ashley it will be fairly hard to locate him though as it seems kind of hard to get around-is hilly, roads are crooked, walked quite a piece to get far. We are only about half a mile from the beach and, they say, only about forty- five miles from the trenches. Can hear the guns here at times, so they say. Can't say I have heard them yet. Kind of hard to realize they are at war here except for so many uniforms. Everything is so peaceful looking. Well, this is enough of its kind, so for the present. If you find time write. Perry