Letter from Edward Thomas to his wife, Helen Thomas. Lydd, Kent. Describes an afternoon off after observing firing by battery in the rain / roommate's leave and the potential for a quiet night's sleep / potential postings and possibly taking charge of a shoot. Archival reference: 424/1/1/1/1/214
Lydd
9 xii 16

Dearest, I have practically a free afternoon for a change.
All I have to do is write a report on my observations of
three shoots this morning. I was out 3 or 4 hours in the
rain watching 3 batteries shooting. It was the first
time I had been within 100 yds of the guns firing. It was
nothing at all to worry about but the rain made it
impossible to observe except with naked eyes and it
wetted me right through my boots. So now I have changed and am sitting in the smoke in front of my fire.
I have been doing a lot of drill with {illegible} guns,
acting as section commander and not making too bad a hash of it - apparently. So far we have not succeeded in amalgamating the mixed elements in the battery.
Thorburn goes away on leave tonight and I shall sleep alone. I hope he will have a nightmare at home. He has very bad ones and I don't want one here.
Blanco White turned up yesterday to join
young Lloyd George's battery. He will be here about a
month. I don't suppose we shall be here longer as
we begin to shoot next week. I don't know if I shall
take charge of a shoot.
There is no other news. I should like to hear
from you how things are going on. I wonder when I shall have an oilskin. My waterproof did not serve me
well this afternoon.
Now I am going out before dark to test my
compass Goodbye all, Edward