Flanders

July 13^th 1916.

My dear Ethel,

Thank you for note, and for the parcel you are going to send me.  If you get this note before it’s dispatched will you put in a toothbrush that you have finished with, as they come in very handy for cleaning rifles?  If you have sent the parcel or have no used toothbrush don’t bother.  I am very interested in the breast pocket affair & am waiting to see what it is like.  We are not the only occupants of our dug-out.  We have to tolerate things that can be felt and not seen.  Last night we plastered ourselves all over with “Trench ointment”.  It is very much like bicycle solution in appearance, smell and stickiness.  There is such a strong smell of this stuff about us & the dugout that we are wondering whether the bites are not preferable.  Harry was telling me in one letter that when he was at school his parcels always seemed to boast of camphorated chalk in everything.  Well in the next parcel mother sent me she put two packets of the stuff with the result that the cake was affected.  I never use the stuff.  We can buy what I use in the canteens here.  I met a boy in C Company who used to be at school with me & we have great chats on the happy days.  The weather has been very decent for the past week & the forest is lovely.  There are any amount of flowers that I haven’t seen before.  Trees are not allowed to grow as they please.  All the side branches are lopped off till the tree gets to a certain height; there is very little brushwood so the forest carpet has a chance to be very beautiful.  A large patch of a certain flower is encountered here and there & you have no idea what a sight it is.

Well, with fondest love, I am,

            Yours affectionately

                        Alan

Our dinner was a huge success.  Tender beef, new potatoes & green peas!

This was enclosed with the letter to Harry of 12^th.