LIFE IN CAMP

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 2, Issue 145, 10 April 1940, Page 7

LIFE IN CAMP

WITH OUR TROOPS IN EGYPT • : (N.Z.E.F. Official News Service) March 12. Nearly a month has gone by sincc we of the First Echelon of the 2nd New Zealand Expeditionary Force set foot in Egypt. It has been a month crowded with training activities on the one hand and new "■and exciting adventures on the other The process of settling down, in "both the camp and the country, was completed in the first week or 'two. The camp itself has begun to lose its air of "brand newness." for with the rapid completion of administration and other buildings • stacks of timber and cement bags "are disappearing. In the main, only the linal touches are yet to be applied, and the clatter of hammers and saws which greeted us on our • arrival has largely subsided. "Sing As We Go." But sounds of toil finally die v >wn, there's 'one that! I deserves special mention,, for it gives us no end of entertainment. It is the weird music of the "work shanties'" that the Egyptian labourers chant Avhen they are mixing ■concrete. And how they mix it! • Thefe is only one shovel, but to it ' is fastened a long rope which half • a dozen workmen seize and pull while another guides the shovel. With each heave they chant the chorus of an endless, droning song whose main part is taken by yet another man, apparently the foreman or supervisor. Strange, however, as some of their methods seem in comparison with the orthodox ways of New Zealand builders, the Egyptians are quick and clever Avorkmen. They are proving this on the site of a fine swimming bath which is being built for us near the camp. Amazing gress is being made with the formation of the pool, which will measure approximately 100 feet by 40 feet and promises to be ideal for competition purposes as well as for pure pleasure. Intense Heat Experienced. The more important roads in the camp have now been bitumen-seal-ed. Unit headquarters have transferred from temporary marquees to roomy offices in wooden buildings, jind we are dining in new and airy mess halls. Shower houses, some of them with hot water laid on, banish that dried-out feeling after a hot. and dusty day. Egypt's winter seems to be drawing to a close, for Ave have lately experienced one or two days of intense heat. Reveille in my own Unit's lines has been put back half an hour to 6 a.m., and there others who are up and about before that hour—this I know from being awakened by the sound of marching music played by one of the- infantry battalion bands. Tricks of the Weather. The weather plays tricks here ."which seem novel to us, and one of them is its consistent failure to i ro•duce anything like our idea of rain. When a few r drops fell some days ■ago they monopolised the conversation: sometimes we long for a grod New Zealand sou'westerly "buster." On the other hand, however, Ave had the experience only this of seeing a whirlwind, lifting a huge column of dust into the air, cross our camp. It left three flattened tents in its Avake. Training has long since been seriously resumed. Several units have sent parties aAvay for special courses of instruction with British and Indian troops Avhich are also encamped in Egypt, and some of them have

gone so far afield as to have had their first glimpse of the Mediterranean Sea. Convoys of cars and trucks move out from time to time carrying detachments away to tactical exercises in the desert. Excursions to Cairo. With leave still being granted on a generous scale, we have been able to continue our excursions into the colourful corners of Cairo. Streets, bazaars, theatres and cabarets have seen us come and go„ our boots have worn even smoother the routes which countless tourist pilgrimages have taken to relics of ancient Egypt. From fortune tellers we have accepted—with a grain of salt [ here and there —predictions of long [ life and happiness. Organised tours, usually occupying a Saturday or Sunday afternoon are held regularly. Something mor? ambitious is being arranged for the Easter week-end, when a three days' excursion to Luxor, which abounds with the tombs and temples of another age, is to be held. Already several of us have decided to go, for the scale of charges must be regarded as very moderate when consideration is given to the distance to be travelled and the variety and number of the sights that will be seen. Sport. Sports fixtures have a prominent place in our leisure-time activities. Interest centres chiefly in the intevunit Rugb3 r football competition which is being held to decide pos-

session of a cup presented by our Divisional Commander, and which is a stepping-stone to the selection of a New Zealand Army team. Soccer, hocitcy and. basketball* enthusiasts have also been active and have sent teams to a number of fixtures. The organisation of committees for the control of swimming and boxing committees is under way, while talk of cricket is in the air. Outside the camp there are facilities available to those of us who have a partiality for golf, riding and tennis. And, of course, in spite of its mechanisation, the Army gives us any amount of amenities for hiking! Amenities of Home. Then there is a leisure hour occupation which all of us find lime for. As many as 2000 of our letters to families and friends in New Zealand and c's.'wlicre are handled each day by the Div'sion's postal staff — the product of spare minu'es during the day and an hour or two by the light of ken s Mie lamps in the evening. This is an activity that is given a great stimulus by the arrival of each inward mail. We haven't even lest touch with Hollywood and E'stree in this qanrp of ours. In a picturesque camp cinema whose roof is merely a covering of coloured mats, Ave can watch up-to-date (alkies with the accompanying pleasures of a "smoke" and an iced drink. Thus the amenities of the world we left have been far from forgotten in our neAv home.