70 years ago: Hong Kong's wartime diaries

My birthday has come and gone and I have now joined the ranks of the S.O.B.’s (Silly Old Buffers). A most enjoyable day it was too. The weather cleared up and we had quite a fine day for a change. Y told me I was not to get up until she told me to. When she had prepared breakfast she called me and I popped up, on the table I found sliced banana on cornflakes, which we ate with milk and sugar! Bread and marmalade and coffee. It was really luscious! My usual peacetime weekday breakfast, except that Y could not conjur butter out of air nor fresh milk out of a packet of powder!

On the table too I found a packet from Marjorie, Tim and Adrian and on opening it I found three packets of cigarettes! We smoked one after breakfast as it was a special occasion. At lunch time, the 11 a.m. meal, a community tin of corned beef was opened in honour of the occasion and I found Y had made two lovely bowls of chocolate cornflower mould which we had for second course - quite an unheard of luxury.

We had invited, for my tea party, the members of our room, including Mr Lammert who always has his meals with us now, Maudie Min, Buckie and Winnie. We had some tomato juice spread on bread and Y’s greatest culinary triumph, a birthday cake complete with ‘Happy Birthday John’ and a candle. The candle was somewhat short and stumpy, but it had the virtue of not burning down too quickly! The cake really was delicious: made of twice sifted flour (to get the weavils and worms out of it!) currants, margarine, sugar and milk powder (all of which had been obtained from the canteen) and some baking powder that Minnie had provided. So the day was a great success. Y had given an awful lot of thought to it. Minnie gave me $10 for a present which was most kind of her: the Armstrongs sent me a banana! And dear old Buckie gave me ten packets of cigarettes. She must have been saving her cigarette ration for ages to collect them all.

Everyone has been entitled to buy a cigarette ration of 4 packets (40 cigarettes) about every three weeks. This has happened fairly regularly for about four times now, though no statement has been made that these issues will become regular. The tobacco is pretty inferior stuff, but the cigarettes are very welcome. It is not difficult to dispose of them on the following day to the heavy smokers at twice the price i.e. 60 cents (cost being 30 cents per packet). Minnie’s present of $10 to us has enabled us to buy our ration and we each enjoy a cigarette after lunch and supper. We often go out in the evening between 6.30 and 8.00 p.m. and sit on the rocks, smoke our cigarettes and read or talk. It is very pleasant to get away by ourselves sometimes. We generally visit Maudie Min at this time of day as it is pleasant and cool (or cooler).

We sat on the rocks on my birthday evening looking across Tytam Bay, the prettiest of the Stanley views and the one I hope to paint for Y’s 21st birthday. I am getting a bit worried about this picture as, for two or three weeks the weather has been so wet that it has quite prohibited any landscape painting. I have now only about 10 days left. Yesterday was pretty fine but the clouds were down on the hills I want to paint and so I could not get a true idea of the composition. I hope I shall be lucky enough to get one fine day at least. Christine Corra has kindly given me a piece of somewhat flimsey cartridge paper and has offered me her paints which, though old, are Windsor and Newton and should be quite good. Vera Armstrong has unearthed a picture frame measuring 9” x 7” which I have gladly borrowed. I shall have to cut the picture down to that size and have no mount, hoping that one day, if the picture ever survives, to have it mounted and framed in a larger frame.

I have also been enquiring about the possibilities for Y’s 21st birthday cake. Mrs Greenwood, I think, will come to the rescue and make and cook that for me. She says she can get hold of some flour for me too which is a load off my mind. Y used the last of our flour for my cake and Y’s cake will have to be considerably larger than mine as she will have to invite at least 22 guests. I am trying to think of a method of making 21 small candles for the cake. I propose to ice the cake with a coating of chocolate icing made of corn starch, cocoa and sugar! And decorate the cake and make the lettering with silver paper. I must also cut out ‘The key of the door’ for her!

I expect our families have been and will be thinking of us especially on these birthday occasions. We saw in the paper that the American repatriates had reached Lorenzo Marques on or about July 20th or 21st. I do hope Col Doughty managed to send off the cables we asked him to on that date. In that event it is just possible that Mother and Father and Chère will have received the news of our safety on my birthday. I do hope it reached them by now at anyrate. Chère will cable to Pop.