ARMY LIFE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 1 August 1941, Page 2

ARMY LIFE

NEW ZEALANDERS IN EGYPT AFTERNOON SIESTA. TWO SLEEPS EVERY DAY. (From the Official War Correspondent with the 2nd N.Z.E.F.) CAIRO, June 28. Part of the daily routine of a member of the N.Z.E.F. in Egypt, in fact a veritable institution in army life here, is the afternoon siesta. For the period of its duration, two hours each afternoon. it is responsible for almost complete cessation of activity. What New Zealander at home could imagine himself shutting his shop or office after lunch and going to bed for the afternoon? Yet that is what the soldier doos here. Only essential duties arc performed during this period, and. of course, guard and picket duties continue. For those who shiver on cold frosty mornings in most parts of New Zealand at this time of the year, it may be difficult to appreciate the necessity for the siesta. But it is a far cry from the invigorating frosts of Canterbury, for instance, to the devitalising heat of an Egyptian summer afternoon. In one of the main N.Z. camps the heat has been so intense at times during the summer than 120 degrees have been experienced on a few occasions and frequently well over the hundred mark. One camp, which is situated in a natural basin, is in truth an oven in the afternoons and even the wind is so hot that it seems to intensify the heat. Partial disrobing will not assist, as there is the danger of sunburn with so many. There is only one solution to the heat problem —the siesta.

For the reader at home the siesta may be best visualised by an imaginary visit to a camp. All have had their lunch and make for their tents, Any tent may be selected at random, but the programme will probably be the same in any tent. Up to ten soldiers are accommodated in the large airy tents. The first action of each soldier, whatever his plans for the siesta period, will be the removal of his boots to ease feet tired by tramping over the sand during the morning. Then follow varying degrees of disrobing, in some cases coming down to an almost complete state of undress. From this stage onward the programme will vary with the individual soldier. New arrivals to the country sleep right through the period at first, but after gaining a little experience they join the. old hands and endeavour sometimes with success, to fight the inclination to sleep. The reason is that if one sleeps he perspires too freely, consequently a large number of the men prefer to rest without sleeping. In any community there are always those who will sleep unashamedly at any time, in any place and under almost any circumstances. For such who are in the army the siesta problem is solved —they just sleep to their hearts content. For others it is an opportunity of catching up with arrears in correspondence, doing a little darning or mending, or settling down to reading a book. “It’s sheer suicide starting to read,” is a remark frequently heard. The inference is that sleep is then inevitable and that is just what happens. It can happen almost anywhere in New Zealand on a hot summer day. It is no unusual sight to see a soldier lying on his bod in the afternoon, fast asleep and holding his book as though he were still reading. He may even be still wearing his spectacles, | There is also the type for whom the siesta period is just another opportun-l ity of carrying on conversations. Trite | conversations or discussions over almost any subject may be the programme for the siesta, but there is always that same enemy of any form of activity lurking nearby--oven conversation may be silenced by this powerful foe, the powerful inclination to sleep. Many a talker is silenced because his audience has fallen asleep. j It has been known for all members of a tent to enter fully resolved not to sleep, because of the discomfort of perspiring excessively. At 4 p.m. a peep inside that tent will reveal all hands deep in sleep with books, sewing, and letters pushed aside. Two official sleeps in one twenty- ( four hours .necessitates two reveilles in one day. The second is blown at 4 p.m. and men must bestir themselves j with the same reluctance they have to J move energetically first thing in the morning. It is usually at this stage that those who did sleep regret it. They; will be perspiring freely and will find; it most difficult to prepare for the next ‘ training period in a happy frame of mind. , | After the siesta training is resumed until 6 p.m., and the other half-hour is I made up early in the morning. It is really a fine institution and serves the twofold purpose of bringing the men in out of the heat during the hottest part of the day and, even if they do not sleep, affords them rest which enables them to conserve energy. “I wonder how we will get on for the siesta when we go back to civilian life” is an oft-heard remark. No doubt it will be a real habit after experiencing it for a long period here, but it will be just another one of those army habits that will have to be shed. ___