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| Camphin-en-Carembault |
On the 14th Sept. we were once again on the move, without a home, but after covering only about ten miles we arrived at Camphin [Camphin-en-Carembault] and set to work putting up camp in a field next to the mill.
Our stay here turned out to be quite a long one. Actually, a day over five weeks. Camphin was not very big but Carvin, a mining town, was only about one and a half miles down the road in the opposite direction to Lille.
Carvin had one long main street and a square half way through. All the road surfaces around here were cobbled, but were fairly smooth. We soon found that the people here were very friendly and anxious to show their hospitality. My first trip into Carvin took place not long after we had camped there. I went for a walk right through the town with a pal and when we nearly reached the other end somebody called us as we were passing a doorway. It turned out to be a café and the proprietor treated us to a drink out of a dusty bottle. It looked as if he had kept it for a long time and when we saw what it was we were surprised. It was Whisky, the real stuff. We had to sample a couple more of those. After that we went out and started walking back through the town. Before long we came to another café, the place was full of them. We went in and began to sample their cognac and beer. The beer was rather weak but cheap at approximately 2d per pint. Before long out came a bottle of Bénédictine and we were treated again. This also was supposed to have been hidden until we got there. The Jerries, by the way, had only left there ten days before. We had quite an interesting conversation at the place with a couple of fellows of about twenty-one years of age, who could speak English and had been in the F.F.I. [1] When we left this place we decided to get back to camp but we called in the last café before leaving town to relieve our thirst. Here we found a man of about twenty-six and his three sisters running the place. We found out that this this chap was quite a big noise in the F.F.I. for that neighbourhood, and here again we had a very interesting talk. All that was left after that place was to walk back along the open road to camp.
I did not see much of Lille during our stay here except on bath runs on the lorry. The streets seemed very wide and it was a clean looking city.
