Down the long, straight, dusty road we marched, hop yards and bright coloured fields on either side, here and there passing prosperous looking farms and estaminets:  what a pleasant change it was from that ruined, dismal jungle we had so recently left!  About three or four miles out we came to a village; the main road ran right through it, forming its principal street.  On either side small lanes ran out at right angles into the different parts of the village.  We received the order to halt, and soon learnt that this was the place where we were to have our ten days’ rest.  A certain amount of billets had been arranged for, but, as is generally the case, the machine-gun section have to search around for themselves; an advantage really, as they generally find a better crib this way than if somebody else found it for them.  As soon as we were “dismissed,” I started off on a billet search.  The transport officer was again with me on the same quest.  We separated, and each searched a different part of the village.  The first house I went into was a dismal failure.  An old woman of about 84 opened the door about six inches, and was some time before she permitted the aperture to widen sufficiently to allow me to go inside the house.  A most dingy, poky sort of a place, so I cleared off to search for something better.  As I crossed the farmyard behind, my servant, who had been conducting a search on his own, suddenly appeared round the corner of the large barn at the end of the yard, and came towards me.

“I’ve found a place over ’ere, Sir, I expect you’ll like.”

“Where?” I asked.

“This way, Sir!” and he led the way across a field to a gate, which we climbed.  We then went down a sort of back lane to the village, and turned in at a small wicket-gate leading to a row of cottages.  He led me up to one in the centre, and knocked at the door.  A woman opened it, and I told her what I was looking for.  She seemed quite keen for us to go there, and asked if there was anyone else to come there with me.  I told her the transport officer would be coming there too, and our two servants.  She quite agreed to this, and showed me the rooms we could have.  They were extremely small, but we decided to have them.  “Them” consisted of one bedroom, containing two beds, the size of the room being about fourteen feet by eight, and the front kitchen-sitting-room place, which was used by everybody in the house, and was about twice the size of the bedroom.  I went away and found the transport officer, brought him back and showed him the place.  He thought it a good spot, so we arranged to fix up there.