Letter from Roy Bruce to Maud Bruce

Another week has gone by
& still we are here; but the signs in the air
of a move are even more portentious. Where it
will be to I do not know, but still i am
in favour of Europe . Of course we may go by
sea to Palestine & push in behind the Turks, who
by the way seem to have had about enough of
the canal, for the time being at any rate. We
get practically no news of what is going on
there. We have heard indirectly that an officer
of the Nelson Infantry distinguished himself, but
do not know any particulars. I think the
beginning of March will see us well on the
way to Europe . I do hope so, every man is
now keep to do the little task allotted to him,
and I have no fear that they will not acquit
themselves reasonably well.

I am going to send you a list of the men
in my troop so that when you see any
casualty lists you will know whether they
belong to me or not.

Andrews & I went on the spree yesterday.
We broke loose in the afternoon and thoroughly

enjoyed ourselves till about 3 o'clock in the
morning. We seem to have more than ever
in common now, I only wish he was with
us. Did I tell you that he had been attached
to the Army Service Corps so I don't suppose we
shall see much of each other after we leave
here. His new billet will give scope for
his organising & administrative powers, but at
the same time I think the force has lost
a good combatant officer.

We went & visited a few mosques in
the afternoon, they are all much about the
same, took a drive through the old slave
market, which is a little dirtier than the
rest of the Arab quarter, and after tea at
Shepheard's had a little dinner at Sault's , a
french French restaurant which I think I have
mentioned before. After dinner we went to the
Kursaal (music hall) & saw several very good
tunes & enjoyed our coffee & liqueurs, and about
11 o'clock went round to the Cas o ⁱ no de Paris -
the Casino, a sort of Moulin Rouge, dancing hall,
music hall, café chaulant etc, is rather unique

in its way as it is reserved for officers only ^{& civilians} .
One smokes, & drinks & dances with the
various ladies who go there and one generally
has a gay & giddy time which ends sometimes
in one way & sometimes in another. The
main drawback is that it is very expensive -
but at the same time it is very amusing
& if one goes there with an open mind & pocket,
it will certainly chase away any blues. Of the
ladies who frequent the place - well - some
are extremely handsome some beautiful some
less so, but nearly all attractive & of all
nationalities except German now. French
predominate, Russian, American, Roumanian,
Greek, English, indeed a man would be hard
to please if he could not find one amongst them
to suit his taste. We stayed there amusing
ourselves till 2.30 & then after a little supper
came home. I happen to number several of
these ladies among my acquaintances, principally
owing to having acted as guide, philosopher etc
to our young friend, and perhaps because I
speak French & perhaps because I do not
treat them any differently from other women,
I get all kinds of information & ideas of
interest from them. I shall have some
lovely stories for you when I get back. One of the best is this - A certain young
officer of our acquaintance, who must be
nameless, but you will have guessed at
the end of the story; being in a similar
plight to the Carmelite friar, betook himself
unto the Casi o ⁱ no one evening & there finding
his heart's desire returned 'chez elle' which
means 'took her home'. For some reason
or other they forgot to set the alarm & they
both went to sleep. Imagine the horror of
our hero to wake up at 5 o'clock, six miles
from camp & reveille at 5.30 & no cab
ordered. He tore into his clothes rushed down
stairs into the street, left one spur & his
identity disc behind him, looked wildly
round for a cab (it is dark at 5 o'clock
here now) could only see an Arab sleeping
beside a donkey, grabbed the donkey & with
one spur working furiously galloped up
the Avenue Boulac (one of the main streets
of Cairo ) at 5.15 am with a shrieking
dragoman after him. He found a taxi
at the Continental Hotel & got to camp
just in time. - I saw his friend last night & she said to me "Do tell me,
did the "le petit Anglais" (he is always
the "little English one") get back in time,
do you know I have been so worried
about him, I cannot think why I went
to sleep like that". I reassured her that
all was well.

I would have given a lot to have seen
that early morning training gallop in the
Boulac .

I often wonder here what our pious
friends in New Zealand would say if they
could see the pillars of their native villages,
because old & young go to the Casino, dancing
the two step & taking these too attractive
girls to supper at 1 am etc. etc.

I have had more fun out of our
sojourn here than I deemed possible. It doesn't
affect me, I have seen it all before, but most
of these other birds have not and sometimes
it is too funny for words. The limit to
my chuckling was reached the other night,
when a subaltern of the reinforcements, finding
himself rather stuck for want of knowledge
of French, asked me if I would make
arrangements, bargain etc for him. With unholy
joy I consented & by Jove I made him pay

for it too.

By all this you will gather that I
am enjoying life well. Health, work & play
combine to make a contented whole, with
two flies in the ointment. The first fly
that you are not here with me to share
it all. The second fly, that if I ever
have to return to civilian life it will
just about finish me. This is without
a doubt the only possible life to live, I
mean the army, not Egypt . I am so
afraid that after the war there will be so
many looking for appointments and as
usual influence will carry the day.
However it is no use worrying now & I
must be thankful that I am allowed to
spend even a portion of my life at the game
I am learning to love so well.

None of the parcels you have sent
have yet arrived - please dear do not spend
your money sending me things. I am
well supplied, here, at all events, I only
wish I could send you some of the lovely
things there are here.

Good bye just now darling, I am going to
bed, we have a big day's training on tomorrow.
Kiss me good night sweetheart & kiss my darling Helen .
God bless you both. Your loving husband, Roy