Diary Entry - 10th May, 1917

Walford: We did not have a very pleasant night as had to sit up until two thirty, when the ration cart returned from the gun. We tried to sleep. I slept in a chair in the Mess, but it was really too cold to be comfortable. However, I slept in until eleven thirty a.m and felt much refreshed. Sandford and I walked into Arras in the afternoon to get some things at the canteen and see the doctor on the way about my ears. I was surprised to find that Arras was such a large place and Cadonnier told me that in days gone by it had a population of 40,000 but it had dwindled to about 29,000. Parts of the town had been severely treated but there were still a great number of houses intact, except for the windows. We had a drink of wine at an hotel which had been running all through the war. Of course, it was rather crude, but it served the purpose of a cafe all right and we had some very cooling wine for 10 francs. It was a very warm evening. On returning, the doctor came to dinner and had a go at my ears with a syringe, without much success. In fact, he made my left ear rather tender and it ached in the night.