TCD MS 11274/49 folio 1 recto
[January 1917]
Wednesday
my dearie, Dearie two such grand letters from you tonight under dates, wed 17 & Friday 19th and you seemed grand and well and am glad you have been able to make out what mrs L.S. wrote. Ive just now come back from my long day I told you Id have and on the whole it was a very pleasant day albeit long & not on the whole successful as we didnt get communication But the locality was much pleasanter as everything was frozen very hard & you could walk and things do not smell in the very hard frost so much. So I sat in my OP all day & looked at the Huns and counted the shells falling on any place as is the duty of the OP man and made notes. And I located places that are on the map but now are found only by a magnetic bearing! The Huns didnt trouble us at all where we were. Yes when I say “getting through” I mean of course on the Phone It is the problem of my life and at this place is very difficult because lines wander about from the ends we are at and go through other areas and get under vague responsibilities and whoever one complains to it is generally Oh you see that part goes out of our area “etc etc. You see if we were allowed to lay our own lines as of old then we’d be responsible and