13th January 1916
A bright cold morning. Still bone dry. A typical day’s work that perhaps I ought to record.
Get up 7.40, break a mirror in my disgust at having to shave on a morning when the water has frozen in the bucket in the cowshed. Breakfast – two fried eggs, bacon (ration) and fried bread, coffee, bread, jam and oranges. Go out on parade 8.40 and march 168 men up to the road where we are working and start them. Have a walk round to see all straight then settle down to warm myself with a pick in the little marble stone quarry we are making for ourselves. I have forgotten for the moment what the streets of the New Jerusalem are made of but here we are making mountain roads of marble. Break at 12 march back to camp dinner (i.e. my lunch soup, cold meat, bread and cheese and coffee). Parade again 12.55 and march back to work, carry on until 3pm close and march back to camp. Tea 4pm. Bread, jam and biscuits.
Lay in front of the fire in Green’s room, smoked, read, talked and wrote to dinner (soup, boiled mutton and potatoes, rice pudding, coffee, nuts and oranges) at 7pm. Carried on in the evening in Green’s room before the fire and turned in 9pm after writing [?]Finn Murphy and Cyril Handman.
Rumour of a draft of 150 men and 3 officers due.