1st October, 1943: Alexandria sightseeing

We had no flies to bother us, but we were up at nine. We washed and ordered breakfast. Rather disappointing really, the same dish as list night's supper. It proved to be the only dish cooked at the hotel.

We were soon out in the sun lit streets to see the shops. Things were a little cheaper out here, but very expensive for all that. We spent about an hour at the services stores from where Eddy and Loftie sent parcels home. We lunched at the Y.M.C.A. canteen, where Egyptian natives waited at tables. They were very concerned to please all, whether out of a sense of duty, or out of a hope that they might be awarded with a tip, I could never really fathom. Tipping was forbidden. Although this is discouraged, these waiters sometimes hung around hoping one's soft spot might be touched. In my case, it was not because the outer hard shell was not pierced by their attempts to please, but because I realized that my money would not last out the period of my leave that made me refrain.

After lunch we went on the tour organised by the Y.M.C.A. Firstly we visited Pompey's Pillar, built on a hill overlooking the city. I was far more impressed with the city's need for slum clearance and reconstruction than with anything the man said about the pillar in question. Many buildings were only half built and left in that state, or they had started to fall and the lower stories had, for some unfathomable reason, remained standing. As we passed down the streets it is hard to know what the people thought of us - they yelled and shouted at the bus as we passed them.

We then visited the catacombs, a really marvellous underground building of three floors. Many rooms, passages, staircases, ornaments and relics for ceremonial rites had been hewn out of this solid rock. In one room, near the catacombs, a stone table with stone chairs around it for a funeral feast. The cool air down below was astonishing - as though the place was well-ventilated. This was hardly so, the temperature here is much cooler than the temperature up above.

From the catacombs, we went to Alexandria Zoo, a poor effort, I saw more animals in the zoo at Blackpool Tower. The zoo offered me a greater variety of interest in the people who were there. It packed with people out to enjoy an Egyptian holiday - a holiday equivalent to the British Christmas festivities, but owing to climate differences, had to be celebrated differently.

We missed the bus back and took a taxi, quite a good effort for the fare charged. After a light snack, we went to see "Commandos Strike at Dawn" at the "Rio" cinema.

The talkies are in English, but translations in French and Egyptian for the benefit of those who do not understand English. Next to me sat a young Egyptian woman, fanning herself vigorously, and in her attempt, also cooled me. I imagine I caught her slipstream.

We walked home with the words "You sleep with Bint tonight Sgt.?" in our ears, coming from many doorways in Frand St. We arrived at the hotel feeling quite hungry, and ordered a 'Joes's Special'. (Joe being our name for the servant, and the special being the same dish). After eggs, chips, tomato, tea and bread and butter, we had nothing to do.

When I came to go to bed, I realized that Joe had changed the bed for me, and that I might sleep without having to do acrobatics to get out of it in the morning. My sleep was not marred by having to climb out of the hole in night.

30th September, 1943: Alexandria - under arrest

That same, never failing alarm clock, the buzz of irritating flies, woke me up again. Why, we were to have leave, & up I got - full of the joys of living. Lofty and I got leave for seven days, Eddie for five. With our passes signed & safely put away, we are in the road in quick time. A small lorry pulled up, driven by two A.T.S. girls who had been out in Egypt about six months pulled up for us.

The journey across the desert to Alexandria is an experience, but it is a hellish hot ride in the back of a small open lorry with no protection from a cruel sun. Several times in these parched sandy wastes, we thought we saw water - great lakes in which trees reflected, finding as we drew nearer that there was nothing there. It was then that I realized what a bitter blow a mirage really is, to a soul, lost in the desert.

Half way from Cairo to Alex. is "Half Way House" - a great N.A.A.F.I. in the desert. We pulled up for refreshments, and we found, after such a ride that watery lemonade went down as smooth as expensive wine. The cool shade of the tent was like a cool breeze. Now one learns to appreciate little things when they become necessities.

The girls put os off at the Check Point and we continued our journey with some soldiers in another waggon. I had my first orange given to me by these fellows, some of whom had not seen England for some years. It was surprising to hear that these soldiers had not had an orange for some considerable time.

These soldiers put us off in the city, and we wandered to Mohammed Ali Square. We walked some distance in the general direction given to us by the civvy police whose English was very scrappy. We decided upon a tram, and when the conductor came to us, with a broad grin on his face he informed us that we were going away from the Square. He put us down withour charging any fare, his amusement seemed ample reward.

When within sight of this square, just imagine how we felt when stopped by R.A.F.S.P. corporal. Upon learning that the "chute" bag was Loftie's - "Sgt - you are under close arrest" were his words. When will we British servicemen learn that to win a war we must fight, and forget the ridiculous little rules that peacetime services desire. Eddie's clothes and mine were also in the bag and we all went to see the D.A.P.M in a service "Black Maria". After more than an hour's delay, he got permission from Cairo to continue his leave.

We got to the services club at last only to find that they had no accommodation left. We went to the "Victory Hotel" - a place recommended to us in the services canteen, and decided to stay there.

A wog man-servant attended to our wants, he was limited in English but quick of understanding. "Supper? - yes in here." referring to our room. We did well, eggs, chips and tomatoes, tea, bread and butter and followed with ice drinks. He got our bath ready, what a treat that hot bath was, we got rid of all that desert grime that caked us. Still feeling hungry we made further enquiries.

"Another supper? - yes." although he did look a little surprised. No wonder really - who but real *unclear* would eat two suppers of eggs on a hot evening.

We then went to bed, but my bed was one of those accidental collapsible ones that were never made to collapse. I was not very comfortable, but managed to get some little sleep in - occasionally waking up to drag myself out of the hole in the middle of the bed.

29th September, 1943: Camp - an offer of leave

The usual swarm of flies buzzing around my head and face woke me up again. It was too early to get up, so I put up with them for a while. Lofty, Eddie & I were up for breakfast. This morning we expect to hear something about the aircraft, & so wait in the mess and wrote a few letters home.

After dinner, I went to make some enquiries. "Do you want seven days leave?" were the words with which I was greeted. This sounded too good to miss. I returned immediately & informed Lofty of the offer. We decided to take advantage of the offer first thing in the morning. We went to the cinema in high spirits full of anticipation of what the next day offered.

28th September, 1943: Cairo - bewildering mass of humanity

With one view in mind, that of changing our English money into Egyptian money, we are up early. We realized when we had this money in our pockets, that it was easy to get a pass to Cairo. With our passes in our pockets, Lofty, Eddie & I were soon outside the camp waiting for a lift into town. Very soon, we were in an open lorry, bound for Cairo. The short distance from the Camp to Cairo as it had seemed from the air, became a long journey in gruelling heat. On either side the road nothing but sand could be seen. It was very surprising to find so much on the road - almost like being back in Britain, but motor cars were a minor percentage of the vehicles that drove along that good road.

Approaching the town, one has not to wait to see the buildings, one smells the city and the civilization - or does one? The smell of rank vegetation in the wet well irrigated land, and the sordid squallor of the poorer parts of town is not a pleasant one. It makes one think as we might say. Near the city, the pyramids which had looked so small, towered into the sky.

These gigantic man-built massive towers, if but gifted with the power of speech, could take us back to Ancient Egypt, the centre of world civilization for a monment. I expected to see Ancient Egypt, lost in thought and with no sense of time. I was not disappointed. Modern motor cars had only partly replaced the camel & donkeys. We passed a large camel caravan, all laden with merchandise. Donkeys were used; & when I saw a man in long flowing white robes riding one, was it not like living in the time of the Bible?

The lorry driver put us off over the bridge, from where we caught a tram into the city centre. Their trams are divided into two sections, first and second class.

A woman, heavily veiled in black, moved up for me to sit beside her. This rather astonished me - but I sat down and thanked her. We got off at the centre, & with the intention of doing some shopping, entered a large store, equivalent to our Lewis's in England. But during the afternoon heat, all leading shops close, & we only had a few minutes when that warning bell rang. We had to get out into the street again, having seen just enough to arouse in us a keen desire to buy a few of those things we saw which we had been for so long without.

Another airman, who had spent some time in Egypt, joined us & took us to the bazaar district. What a sight, long very narrow streets of stalls, hand carts and small shops. Clothes, carpets, ornaments, cheap junk and expensive antiques - all laid out for the customer's benefit, the whole scene making a Church jumble sale look paltry and small. These sellers were not content on waiting for a customer, each merchant shouted his ware to attract the attention of any likely buyer. The sellers in some stores outnumbered the customers. In the street donkey carts and hand carts, heavily laden with all kinds of goods for sale, were hooted at by impatient motor drivers. Bells of push bicycles were rang frantically & continuously & pedestrians had to make frantic efforts to get out of the way. The chaos and uproar is most startling, causing much confusion on everybody's part. Some of the older people, less vigorous, rested in the shade, others slept on the pavement. The food stalls, which for lack of paint or soap & water, looked like antiques, were loaded with undescribable kinds & mixtures of native food. Some of these stalls smelt quite pleasantly, while others definitely did not. I saw no food covered over to prevent flies getting at it, they were having a glorious time, fruit, cakes, sweetmeats and other food stuffs were theirs for the taking. The only danger these flies experienced was the occasional swish of a swat used by the owner of the stall. The swat was used in a half hearted fashion, & kept the flies away occasionally, but making them more eager to get on with the eating. I think the swat was used not because the food is cleaner when there are no flies, but because the owner though the flies had had enough free feeding, & had not started eating into the profits. The flies seemed of that opinion, but did not let this occasional, lazy attempt to kill them, deter them from their feast.

Women carrying water jars on their heads, men with skins full of water, shoe blacks, cobblers, tailors, quack doctors, soft drink sellers, - all plied their trade in these narrow busy streets. It was one bewildering mass of humanity trying to make a living - honestly & by brow-beating others. If this is civilization, civilzation is chaotic and mad.

We returned again to the town & soon realized that for the things that we wanted we had to pay fabulous prices. Some of the shops had fixed prices, but the little trader could always be beaten down in his price. In the main streets "Wog" shoe blacks were a nuisance. Unless one wanted one's shoes clean, they became almost vicious, and poured liquid blacking upon one's shoes. This meant that those shoes needed cleaning for which they usually charged five piestres (6d). These were the type, I imagined, that might follow a person at night with a sharp long naked knife. I had no reason to believe such of them, but their attitude and the strong rumours that went around gave me an uneasy feeling.

We had a grand lunch at the "Spitfire" grill - chicken the best value for money I had in Cairo that day.

We went to a cinema show, the cinema a large modern place and a pleasant surprise. The roof opened and the stars above could be seen. Of for an English shower, what a hell of a panic there would be to get away from the rain. If this happened in Britain I expect quite a number would quite casually open up their umbrellas - until another behind would shout "Put the b- thing away, I paid to see the picture not to see what your umbrella looks like when it is open"

We had another meal at the "Spitfire" and made our way to the Y.M.C.A. where one could get refreshments & we spent the last half hour of our stay at Cairo, trying to satisfy an unsatiable thirst.

Once on our way, we were soon in the desert air again, cool, refreshing and clean. The noise and unpleasant smells of the city were left behind. That was my first visit to Cairo, & my impressions are almost undefinable. It is certainly a marvellous city of a bewildering mass of humanity, a chaotic centre of small shops & traders, a town where the fabulously rich & poor are found in the same streets. My mind was in a whirl.

27th September, 1943: Egypt - nuts in the desert

After an early breakfast, we set off again, another journey over sandy wastes. The rugged mountains gradually gave way to hills & these disappeared until shortly we passed over a low plain of dry sand. This sand stretched to the sky on all sides - but where one finished and the other began was lost in the shimmer heat haze.

We passed over much of the desert where the Libyan war had been fought - I occasionally saw tracks in the sand, a burnt out aircraft or tank - a few discarded lorries. This country was bad enough to fly over, but to wage war on - God, it must have been hell. My hat is off to the Eighth Army.

Approaching our destination, we see some pyramids - small triangular buildings in the distance. How small they looked from this distance and this height. Then the river could be seen - with a belt of vegetation on either side. So this is Egypt - practically all desert. How books mislead one - Egypt a rich highly cultivated country appeared as a desert with a belt of vegetation on either side of the river, the rest - just waste.

We swung violently upon landing and damaged the port undercarriage, and were ready to jump out in case of fire - but before we got our stuff out - taking out time, we had several people down to enquire about us & about the damage done.

We were taken to the mess, a splendid place, but we had no Egyptian currency, and could not avail ourselves of what the mess had to offer in the way of drinks. I met Eddie at the mess, and he lent me some money until I got my money changed.

£1 Egyptian = 100 piestres (??????) - £1-0-6 English. For convenience we reckoned 5 piestres to one shilling.

Dinner was good, served by Wogs - Egyptian Arab types. They were dressed in white robes - some wearing a turban, others the fez. After a splendid dinner, I could now, by means of borrowed money, buy something to drink, and obtain cigarettes. Here at the mess I met several fellows whom I knew and I spent some hours talking about the places we had been to since we had parted.

We prepared our beds before leaving for the pictures. Here a record was put on that suited the place - "Sand in my Shoes". They had no mercy for the chaps who had been there a long time who did not know what it was like to have shoes on without sand in them. Here, at the pictures, I made my first acquaintance with the wood bug. We needed no formal introduction, the little devil soon made himself known to me, & I left with quite a number of nasty large lumps to take back with me to the billet.

The interval enabled one to buy drinks, fruit or nuts, & after a shortage of nuts at home - they were a real treat.

26th September, 1943: Tyre troubles

All ready to go - when we were told that we had to stay because of tyre trouble. Lofty and I spent the morning on our beds. After tiffin, when the heat of the afternoon became so intense, we lay on our beds and perspired freely. It was a lazy day, not a breeze stirred, the trees seemed unable to breathe for the heat & dryness. The flies were not idle - they buzzed around all day - annoying little pests.

After dinner and a pleasant cool shower, we spent an evening at the mess. Having no soft drinks this evening we tried another canteen, but the length and depth of the queue decided us to be content with water.

I wrote and posted my first letter home from here, & with a feeling of satisfaction, went to bed.

25th September, 1943: Former Italian Camp, Africa

We left camp early again this morning, & were taken to the drome. People taking their fruit to the market - on their heads & on trucks, a busy scene all along the road.

Again we left earth, and flew away from this pleasant spot by the sea, into the desert. Was there no end to this waste? Mountains, dried up rivers and lakes an a few villages that looked deserted, passed slowly beneath us - then perhaps a road with a few vehicles on. What did their drivers think? What must their barren sun scorched high peaked mountains have made them felt like?

Our next stopping place was surrounded by palms - and to rest one's eyes upon them again was grand. We arrived to find that this camp was beautifully laid out - typical of the Italian love for beauty. We were to spend the night under canvas but we had camp beds to sleep on. The food was good, and the tea was poured out to us by an Italian prisoner. He was young, pleasant, with a smile for everyone. Could we have been fighting young men like this one? War seems so mad and futile, people whom we might have befriended became our deadly enemies simply because the ruling powers of the countries must be at a state of war. What had he done to make our men want to kill him, what had we done to make him want to kill us! Nothing; but we are told we must fight. That is war.
After tiffin (mid-day meal), we had a shower, and another pleasant Italian pumped the water for us. He too, made a better friend than an enemy.

At this camp I first saw an oxen cast. Here are slow beasts that amble along however much the driver might shout at them. I believe that most of the shouting was done to keep himself company, & to let the beasts know that he was still there, otherwise they would probably lie down in the shade of the first tree they came to.

We spent the evening in the mess. No beer was obtainable, but this did not worry a teetotal. With plenty of lime & water, I was very content. The food had been good - and plentiful, & I felt grand. I slept well that night.