 |
| "Pheasant as usual, I suppose cook?" |
Very soon we started getting ready for Christmas, the decorations were put up in our two rooms in the school and plenty of beer was laid in. On Christmas day, I passed the morning getting cleaned up and changed into my blue battle-dress. We called in the Café on the way to dinner and sampled a few Cognacs. Then we went into the school sat down at the tables and waited to be served by the officers and N.C.O.s. First of all every man got twenty cigarettes and a block of chocolate, and then the beer was brought round, one bottle per man. Tomatoe (sic) soup was served first and then came the chicken, roast beef, roast potatoes and all the rest of the good stuff. It was a very good dinner and so was Christmas pudding with rum sauce that followed.
When everybody had finished, cigars were handed round and the usual few speeches were made. All through the meal everyone was kept well supplied with beer. Then we all cleared out and went into the next room where our bar was now open. First of all we finished off a lot of free beer and then the rest we had to buy. There was plenty of chocolate and sweets about, so I proceeded to tuck into everything. Soon it was tea time and trifles, blancmange, cakes and a lot of other things were brought in. The tea lasted all through the evening. I went to another of our film shows during the evening. I didn't feel like going on guard that night but it had to be done.
The next afternoon, Boxing Day, I was playing football for the unit against a civilian team from the surrounding villages. It was a very good game and we won 3-2 although we should have got more.
