Christmas, 1944
The war came to a temporary halt over Christmas and Boxing Day and as our normal day off was Sunday the 24th we got a nice long break over the holiday. Unfortunately, there was a travel ban in effect and therefore my hopes of going to Aberdeen or Bournemouth were shattered, so I settled on Edinburgh. We stayed at the officer's club on Princess Street where the accommodation and the meals were quite good, although the waffles at the Legion were my favorite dish. On Sunday afternoon I met my local friend from the W.A.A.F. and we did a bit of sight-seeing before going to the club for dinner and the Carol singsong which followed.
At about 11:30 p.m. a group of us went to the Church of Scotland's midnight candlelight service. The church - which dated back to the 1600's, was kept in total darkness except for candles in front of the choir loft The order of service was just about the same as at the United Church back home with lots of singing. The congregation was issued small flashlights to read the hymns. After walking my date home (trams stop at 11 p.m. and taxies can never be found) I returned to the club and slept like a log until noon on Christmas day.
Four of us had an invitation to a private home for Christmas dinner. It was great to sit before a homey fire and enjoy the friendly hospitality of the Scotch family. Afterwards we were taken to the Christmas pantomime of Robinson Crusoe which was excellent variety and quite a change from some of the ENSA shows we had seen. On Boxing day we slept till noon and then returned to the station at East Fortune in time for the big mess party that night. It was quite an affair with all the girls from the neighboring towns begging for invitations. I went stag because transportation was quite a problem.
The week between Christmas and New Year's, weather-wise, was clear and bright and we spent most of our days catching up on the balance of our flying exercises prior to what we hoped was to be our squadron posting.
The day before New Year's, we were taken to the Naval dockyards at Leith where we were shown the inner workings of a British destroyer. We found it very interesting although I think the close confines of the living quarters on board would bother me.
Again everything on the station came to a grinding halt on New Year's Eve day as everyone rested up for the big dance which the W.A.A.F.'s were organizing for that night. We all had a great time and most of us stayed until "Auld Lang Syne" was played about three a.m. Fortunately none of us had to fly that day because if we did I'm sure there would have been a few crippled aircraft.
Effective with the new year our special aircrew ration of eggs per week was doubled from two to four. Quite often I asked for one raw egg, in order to hard boil it in my room and then eat it rolled up on a slice of bread.
At about 11:30 p.m. a group of us went to the Church of Scotland's midnight candlelight service. The church - which dated back to the 1600's, was kept in total darkness except for candles in front of the choir loft The order of service was just about the same as at the United Church back home with lots of singing. The congregation was issued small flashlights to read the hymns. After walking my date home (trams stop at 11 p.m. and taxies can never be found) I returned to the club and slept like a log until noon on Christmas day.
Four of us had an invitation to a private home for Christmas dinner. It was great to sit before a homey fire and enjoy the friendly hospitality of the Scotch family. Afterwards we were taken to the Christmas pantomime of Robinson Crusoe which was excellent variety and quite a change from some of the ENSA shows we had seen. On Boxing day we slept till noon and then returned to the station at East Fortune in time for the big mess party that night. It was quite an affair with all the girls from the neighboring towns begging for invitations. I went stag because transportation was quite a problem.
The week between Christmas and New Year's, weather-wise, was clear and bright and we spent most of our days catching up on the balance of our flying exercises prior to what we hoped was to be our squadron posting.
The day before New Year's, we were taken to the Naval dockyards at Leith where we were shown the inner workings of a British destroyer. We found it very interesting although I think the close confines of the living quarters on board would bother me.
Again everything on the station came to a grinding halt on New Year's Eve day as everyone rested up for the big dance which the W.A.A.F.'s were organizing for that night. We all had a great time and most of us stayed until "Auld Lang Syne" was played about three a.m. Fortunately none of us had to fly that day because if we did I'm sure there would have been a few crippled aircraft.
Effective with the new year our special aircrew ration of eggs per week was doubled from two to four. Quite often I asked for one raw egg, in order to hard boil it in my room and then eat it rolled up on a slice of bread.