TCD MS 10853 folio 80 recto
[1915]
had heard of our arrival and were coming to make hay before the sun shone.
March 17th. Played football for 7 and 8 platoon v 5 and 6. Good game drew 4-4
Received our first pay in France, 15 francs. Ben and I on guard during night. Nothing much doing. At the farm house there was an old Flemish woman who amused us all for she talked a good deal and it sounded gibberish. Her mild husband, however, could understand enough French to get along and Rawlings and I were unofficial interpreters for the platoon.
We had an impromptu concert in the evening, and a happy family we were in that barn. The Sergeants’ Marshall, Annesley and Donnan slept between the two doors and the straw was fixed in the barn in three tiers rising from the cement floor near the doorways. Ben and I were on the