Aus No 407499,
Sgt Goode RM
C/o South Australia House,
Marble Arch
London W.1.
1/2/42.

Dear Everybody,

Am still waiting to go to a Training Unit, am getting very tired of waiting around, its now over eight months since we did any serious work. Two falls of light snow during the week, one lot fell while we were at breakfast, when we came out everything was covered in white. Its rained everyday here for the last three weeks, we did see the sun on two days for a few minutes but later in the day it rained. Cold drizzling rain, when its not raining the water freezes on the ground.

Have enclosed some Maple Leaves I picked while I was in Canada. Letter No 7 arrived today, with the copy of Mrs Jamies letter, nice of her to write but - perhaps its just as well we didn’t stop longer, second impressions might not have been so good, she was probably thinking of one of the other boys anyhow.

When we came to this station we were offered some more leave, & turned it down thinking we might do some work. Might apply for some now, though I don’t quite know where to go. Have received several invitations to go & stop with people in England. But as a social success I’m not so good, don’t dance, sing or entertain, am slow to make friends, guess when I was younger there weren’t enough young people around, so I didn’t learn that happy knack of forgetting everything once in a while & having a good time.

Letter arrived from Helen the other day, hope she is quite all right now & has gone to some unit. Three letters now from Ethel the drawings are extra, also got Airlie’s drawing of a ship, hope she is better now, have sent her a couple of cards, hope she likes them.

Tell the Dixons, & the Griffiths I often think of them. Went for a walk today, nearly all the fields are surrounded by a hedge & outside the hedge a ditch, quite a lot of wild strawberries were growing in the ditches for several miles; moss & ferns & all sorts of plants cover the sides, water flow through them all the time, nearly always ice covered.

Saw a man cleaning out a ditch today, back 6 feet from where he was working the mud he had thrown out was frozen solid & covered with ice, this at 2:30 P.M., he was working at quite a good pace.

Hope everyone is well at home.

Love, Ray