21-6-16
Dear Doris,
Many thanks for the letter and parcel which I found waiting for me when I got back from leave the other day. – I blew in about 4 A.M. hungry as could be and blessed you for those figs and the chocolates. – Had a bird of a time in England. – Took four days in London getting a respectable looking uniform, seeing the shows and otherwise having the real good time that can be only enjoyed when you have been away from such things for 8 or 10 months.
I followed this by four days at Bournemouth, a southern seaside place and had a glorious round of motoring, canoeing and loafing.
The time was all too short, we only get 8 days and after coming back to this god-forsaken country it all seems like a dream, a blur of taxis, theatre, dinners and – well everything that goes to make up a good time. – I missed a bit of a show over here, for which I was rather sorry. After having a monotonous stretch of 6 months with very little doing it was just my luck to have them start something when my leave was due. – However I may consider myself lucky to have missed it as a lot of my friends “went west” before things quieted down. – Did you know that you had lost a cousin, or second cousin – Fred Chidley, a grandson of Uncle George Murray was killed on april 26th when the boches sprung a mine under the part of the line that his Battalion was holding. – Haven't heard anything of the other Murray since Christmas – I suppose he is still chasing around Egypt with his Battery. – Well it's pretty hard to write with nothing to say. – There is a lot that I suppose would be interesting but it's so commonplace to us that we can't think of it when writing letters.
So long and write again.
Your aff cousin
Murray
28/6/16
Yours of May 26th just to-hand. – No time to answer at present just going up front for my 8 days in the line.