No 407499,
Sgt Goode R.M,
London W.1.
C/o South Australia House
Marble Arch
29/11/41

Dear Everybody,

21/11/41
Had to pack our kit bags this morning, we are being moved to St Leonards on Sea.

22/11/41
Up at 5:30 A.M. breakfast 6:30 A.M. Parade at 7:15A.M. still quite dark. Marched to the station about 2½ miles away, carrying a heavy kit bag, plenty of R.A.F. truck & buses running about, but we still had to carry them.

Sunday 23/11/41
Arrived at St Leonards Railway Station, at 2:30 P.M. & had to march about a mile to Marine Court where we are billeted. Marine Court is a concrete & steel building 15 stories high, we are on the tenth floor, no lifts working, so we climb 164 steps at least 8 times a day to our rooms, we use our own knife, fork, & spoon & we climb up to get them & and down to each meal in the mess. My feet are not too good, the steps on the stairs are not very wide, & going up the heel doesn’t rest on the step at all, so up & down higher than the T&G building in Adelaide isn’t so good. We have lectures, Morse, Aldis Lamp, Drill P.T. etc every day, & march from one place to another with a short step that’s much too fast 138 to the minute. R.A.F. discipline is too tight in most cases that don’t matter, & too loose in the things that do. Never have so many been messed about by so few.

Monday 24/11/41
We finished at 4P.M. Eric Ding another boy & I went to an old town called Battle. We had a look at Battle Abbey, built on the site of the Battle of Hastings, where King Harold was killed in 1066 during a battle with William the Conqueror. We climbed up the tower on one side of the gate, the gate was built in the Fourteenth Century. The Abbey was started in 1066 & finished in 1094.

Tuesday 25/11/41
Had two alerts this afternoon, neither lasted very long, the all clear signal came in a few minutes.

Wednesday 26/11/41
Morse & Aldis Lamp tests today

Thursday 27/11/41
Went for a walk in the town, a fountain in front of a church had the words. Whose-ever drinketh here will surely drink again. Eric said “The water must be salt.”

Friday 28/11/41
Miss fruit most here grapes 10/- to 12/6 a lb, apples 1/3 a lb, pears 2/6, too dear to buy. Very little sugar, generally none in tea, puddings etc, sweets obtainable only sometimes, we can buy a few then generally 2 ozs each. Sugar, fruit, butter meat & milk seem to be the main ration shortages, we are getting plenty of meat & butter but not the civilian population.

Hope everyone is well at home, no letters yet.

Love, Ray