大象传媒

We had almost 2 weeks in camp and then orders for sailing. It was a family ship made over from peacetime 鈥� three tier bunks in every room and strict segregation of sexes. A number of mixed-race wives, some of them very pretty, were a little unsure of their English. I was told by several of them that they came from 鈥渢he Cantoonment of course鈥�. There were also English wives there of course. One had lovely fair hair. She had a sort of stuffing on her head over which she piled her hair. This earned her the nickname of the passionate haystack
If we wanted to be alone with our husbands, we had to make arrangements with their roommates that they wouldn鈥檛 come back within the hour. It was October by now and we could still sit on deck, but there was only one recreation room if it was raining. This time we sailed up the Suez Canal and that was interesting. If you sat down on deck all you could see was sand and no water at all.
As colder weather came, we all wanted to be inside. There were not enough chairs and some people were wanting to read whilst others played cards. So the room was divided in two. We belonged to the card side of the room, but even there, there was a divide 鈥� quiet or noisy 鈥� i.e. Bridge or Snap? The excitement was quite childish but we were going home after years away. We were like naughty children really.
We landed in Liverpool with our travel vouchers for home and warm clothing still in our trunks. David and I were making for Cheltenham, where my mother lived. We had orders posted to us about where we were each to report to after our leave was over. Now was a perfect homecoming and we never stopped talking. Then we went to see David鈥檚 parents at Headington and repeated all the news and finally Tony, David鈥檚 brother, announced that he also was getting married and we had to go to Liverpool for the wedding.
Altogether a very happy ending to our war.

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