Friday 1st May 1942

Horrors of the khamsin. God knows what the temperature has soared up to! I feel an old man. This afternoon I fell asleep, clammy with sweat, in the mess during siesta. Clouds of dust swirling in. But there were no flies. Pipes and cigarettes tasted ghastly.

Since showing the others some ju-jitsu moves recently, I've been known as “Strangler”. This tough nick-name struck me as ironical whilst I was dragging myself wearily around today.