N) The Daily Routine

The Daily Routine

Life in the Camp settled down to a regular routine, which ran something like this:  Queue for hot water on rising; queue again shortly afterwards for half-a-pint of rice congee (a ‘mess of pottage’ similar to oatmeal porridge but not nearly as nutritious); wash and tidy up; do two hours work; queue for the 11 o’clock rice and vegetable stew; queue for more hot water; eat a morsel of saved-up food at 2pm; attend lecture, read, or play bridge in the afternoon. Queue for the evening meal at 5.30. Visit friends in the cool of the evening. In quarters by 8pm. Queue again for hot water. The ‘work; referred to above might be: clerical work for the Camp, teaching at the school, working on the land, sanitation duties, cobbling, mending, vegetable-cutting, dentistry, medical work in a clinic. Some internees – those working in the kitchens or in the hospital for example – put in much longer hours than the generality.

The excessively overcrowded conditions under which people lived are perhaps best illustrated by a personal experience. The writer consented to be transferred from his quarters in order that the Vice-Chancellor of the University (who was in the same room) might have sufficient space to set up a table on which to write in preparation for a course of lectures on English Literature which he nobly maintained (to the great enjoyment of all who attended) for a space of two years, twice a week. In the new quarters occupied after this transfer an adjustment had to be made after the first night. A piece of wood was nailed to the floor in order to prevent the legs of two adjacent camp beds from touching; otherwise each sleeper disturbed the other every time he turned over.

As to under-feeding, the important thing was to get to sleep before the pangs of hunger set in acutely. A good device to quell these was to fold up some garment and them bind it tightly to the stomach with a towel.