Foggy – Raw & very cold.
The arrival of a couple of letters prevented me from taking my life in my hands and dropping it in the incinerator.
Walk up to St. Eloy with Gus this aft & then went over to the 215th to tea.
Fine.
Borrowed Salmon’s mare & rode into Aubigny.
Wheeler & I saw the “Archies” again.
Lots of newspaper talk these days of strikes in Germany & Austria, but I don’t this they have anything on us in the way of labor troubles in Gt. Britain & we haven’t the means to keep them down that continental countries have.
Robertson's "newspaper talk" was accurate. Austria-Hungary had just come through the Jännerstreik, a wave of strikes across the empire from January 3–25 that drew over 700,000 workers demanding better food and an end to the war; Germany's own Januarstreik followed almost immediately, spreading through the Berlin munitions and metal trades from January 25 to February 1, with roughly 400,000 workers out at its peak. Both were driven by food shortages, war-weariness, and the example of the Bolshevik government in Russia, then negotiating peace terms at Brest-Litovsk. Robertson's own aside: he doesn't think Germany and Austria are worse off than Britain for labor trouble, only that Britain "haven't the means to keep them down" the way the continental governments do.
Cloudy
Quiet. – Reading “The Red Cockade” – Weyman.
– Couldn’t raise energy enough to send for the mare.
– Cooper surprised me by going off on the razzle, but the fact that the room has been in a deuce of a mess all day only makes me appreciate his tender care the more.
Fair.
Small train in to-day livened up the yard a bit.
Discussed “Pelmanism” with Bridges.
Walked over to 3rd A.T. to see McCuaig & have tea. – He seems to think Nice is well worth a visit. – Must poke Bull up about it.
Brought Simpson, Ewart & King (7th F.C.) back to dinner.
(Cooper says “Napoo encore vin blonq”)
Fair.
Rode up to Fort George to see Bull this aft. – He is ready to go on leave at any time so we shall put in right away. – Phoned Jeff but he says it will take almost three two weeks to come thro.
Laurie, Peake & Ackester came down to dinner.
Westcote dropped in later. – Laurie followed his usual custom.
Bearing (crank-shaft) on small engine snapped to-day. – Have to take it in to the Army Workshop to-morrow.
Fair.
Got a tender from 16 Sqdn. & took the fractured casting into the 350th’s shop at Bethune.
Met Kelly at the club and had lunch with him. – Tells me Bunty died very suddenly just after Xmas.
Boswell was in to tea.
Bull put in for leave from the 17th.
Rainy.
Put in for leave from the 18th. – Boswell sent down the side-car for me after lunch, so went up to dinner with him at Dinkyville. – Met Len Rainboth & Pont Armour at the 4th Div. Club. – Saw the 4th shows. – They put on “A Lad in France” & did it very well.
Corps had the wind up tonight. – Fritz had been shelling hard all day & they rather expected a show.
Rainy.
Nothing much doing.
The C.E. is in London on business. – About the change in formation it is said.
Redelsperger & Bardec came up after dinner for a game.
Fair.
Was having a peaceful afternoon nap too overcome the effects of too much lunch, when Simmie came in & routed me out, to tour round with him in the side-car. – Went over to 3rd A.T. for tea and the up to Camblain to a show in the new theatre which was mighty good. – The theatre itself is a work of art.
Fair. – Windy.
Got vouchers for £6-3-3 for being D.R.O. during the elections. – It all helps towards leave. – Gus & I walked over to Havesnes & had tea with Clover & Co.
Sneath of the 12th came in to dinner on his way back from the camouflage course.
Fair.
Chinese New Year, so work is just about off in the yard. – A small train in this A.M. but was easily unloaded by about half the number of white labour.
Bridges came in to tea & Keyt & Dunn later, from the leave train. – Dunn stayed to dinner.
February 11, 1918 was the first day of the Chinese New Year, the Year of the Earth Horse. The near-shutdown Robertson records reflects how much of the yard's labour came from the Chinese Labour Corps, part of a workforce of roughly 140,000 Chinese labourers recruited by Britain from 1916 onward for exactly this kind of unloading and transport work, referred to elsewhere in the diary as "roustabouts" and, in period slang, "celestials."
Fair.
Gus & I went to ARRAS on the morning leave train. – Visited Ordinance, lunched at the club, did some shopping & came back on the civvy train in time for tea – That town is a pitiful sight. – Strikes me worse than Ypres I think. – Two very enthusiastic chaps from the Grenadiers were up to tea. –
A letter from home – Mother’s been sick.
Robertson had called Arras "far more interesting than Albert" on his first visit, back in April 1917. Returning in February 1918, after another year of shelling: "That town is a pitiful sight. – Strikes me worse than Ypres I think." He had walked through Ypres's own ruins in person in 1916, and called it "an awful wreck" then.
Arras →
Dull
Skipper went to AMIENS
Redelsperger & Bardec came up after dinner.
Dull – Raw.
Started plowing for our garden.
Bond & Adamson were coming down to dinner but renigged so sent for Simmie & Melville to help eat the chicken that the skipper brought back from Amiens.
Fine. – Cold.
Got a horse from 3rd A.T. & went up to Ft. George – Saw Smeed. – His authority came thro’ two days ago, so he is catching the [?].20 from Arras to-morrow morning. – Phoned Jeff. – No sign of my authority. He phoned me about 10 P.M. – “A” branch had received it from [?] but had lost the [?]. – No chance of [?]
Mac came in to lunch.
Fine. –
Waiting around all day for authority. – Finally came in about dinner time. – Got away on the leave train 11.45 P.M. – Cold.
Robertson had been angling for a second trip to Paris since at least October 3, 1917, when he wrote "I guess Paris will do for me this time", that first, solitary visit he later called "frightfully slow" in a letter to Doris. This second leave took nearly two weeks to actually happen: he asks about it on February 5, formally applies for the 18th on February 7, then spends February 16 chasing his own "authority" by phone after Bull's came through and his own got lost somewhere in "A" branch. It finally arrives the evening of February 17, and he's on the leave train that same night. The trip itself was nothing like October's: opera tickets, the Tuileries, tea at Ciro's, and company this time, in Bull.
Paris →
Arr’d Etaples 4.45 A.M. Breakfast at Y.M. rest hut & left at 8.40.
Arr’d Paris 4.00 P.M. Didn’t find Bull – Tea at Ciro’s. – Dinner at Grand – Went to Casino – Met Green (H.T.M. [?])
Fine.
Picked up Smee. – Registered at Can. Office. – Gare de Lyon to book our seats (Good R.T.O. there) – Booked seats at opera. – Turkish bath. – Lunch at Café de Paris – Took Smee round town. – Tuilleries – Place de la Concorde. – Invalides
Pont Alex. – Ch. Elysées
Tea at Ciro’s – Met Billy Nick – No dinner as opera commenced at 7.30 – Magnificent building.