Friday 24th February 1939

Embleton, a decent, quiet bloke in the Battery, received the unofficial news that he is to get a stripe, tonight. We had a coffee at Wainwright’s afterwards. Embleton used to be friendly with a feller who left the unit just before I joined and seems to have been reincarnated in me. (The cloak of Elijah!) (Literally, for I now wear his old tunic. It fits me perfectly) He was said to be “a bit quiet” whilst at camp, “all right though”. “Cor” said one of my colleagues, “What’s that bloody stuff yer smoking? Smell like what old Pryor used to 'ave” Wish I’d met him; he transferred to the Regular Army – Royal Corps of Signals. “He was a lad! Always stuffin 'is guts, Pryor was!”

Been a fairly decent week – over £25. I didn’t get many orders myself but quite a few customers ordered direct, so that I’d have pleasant surprises in my morning mail from the office.