"HAD A GREAT TIME"
WHAKATANE SOLDIER'S JAUNT KHARTOUM AND BACK-
"We were away over a'fortnight and had a great time," writes Private A. E. Shaw, in a letter, to his parents describing a trip to Khartoum from the base camp at El Maadi. ' "The natives thought it, was just . O.K. whenever the train stopped at a station. They would come to us and jabber away in Arabic and mix a word or two of English in with it. What they said about young Adolf H. and Musso was not very complimentary to those gentlemen. One thing the Gyps are pretty good at is swearing. They might know three or four hard words and they'll use them quite a number of times.'* Private Shaw describes the party's- -J arrival at El Shelal, the terminus of the Egyptian-Sudan Railways the trip up the Nile on a steamer. "It was very nice board," he writes. "Plenty of off the ice and the food was superb. ■ „ _ ■ "It was just a perfect holiday—: lounging about, reading or watch-* ing the changing country. It was too, when we struck the.rapids. The sailors would tie a long cable to the bank and get. tho winch going and pull the'boat up in that manner. It took eight hours to get clear." Private says that upon arrival at Wadi Haifa the District \ Commissioner 'put on a big spread for us, and believe me, it was one hundred per cent. "Arrived in Khartoum after thirty V six hours travelling and were not sorry to get there. It is extra specially not there—over 120 degrees at times and 117 is quite an everyday affair .r "Aa Englishman' took us to the" place where: Kitchener beat the Der vishes when he went,to release Gordon. It was very interesting and /he gave us a commentary on the wholo history—how, the battle was won and how the whole thing was cleaned up, "The manager of the bank in Khartoum is o New Zealarider, a returned soldier with quite- a few decorations. An officer (English) came over to where three of were sitting and chatted for a couple of hours. He said he had been trying to get to New Zealand but his - leave was too short. Of course we gave him a good story of New Zealand—the beer helped a lot." Private Shaw concluded by observing that another trip to Khartoum, would be very welcome.
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Bibliographic details
Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 2, Issue 240, 20 November 1940, Page 4
Word Count
401"HAD A GREAT TIME" Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 2, Issue 240, 20 November 1940, Page 4
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