Friday 3rd April 1942

We have arrived – at a dust camp miles away from Cairo. I suppose one could call it Mena; it is on the outskirts. We are about three, maybe four miles from the Mena tram terminus. There is no NAAFI here, no cinema, no bus route. A mobile canteen comes by occasionally... “And we have come here.” I said bitterly, “to savour the last delights of civilisation before proceeding to the jungle. Mass tigers, lions and malaria. And snakes. No good!”

There are a score of us in a big double tent. The elite of BHQ – 15 signallers, two specialists, Geoff and Tubby Cartwright of the water cart, and of course, Jimmie James (Badin, - Yimkim) “Presently – maybe.”