01 Oct 1944, Chronology of Events Related to Stanley Civilian Internment Camp

John Charter surveys recent events in camp:

Another month has come. September did not see the end of the war in Europe as most of us thought it might....

Today we were all given our first vitamin capsule. I cautiously bit mine and tasted a most terrible flavour of concentarted fishiness! So I hastily swallowed the rest. We are to have one capsule each, every other day, and this will suply us with the necessary amount of vitamins A, B1, B and C....

The electricity came on again last Sunday, 24th! We had never really expected it, so its advent was hailed with great delight. Unfortunately it is available only for lighting purposes, and then only from 7.30 till 9.30 p.m. each evening. We cannot use it for cooking, so we still have no bread - we shall never see bread again in this camp I think - and they cannot make yeast again. The cessation of the camp yeast supply, when the electricity was cut off, is probably a contributory factor to the increase of beri-beri for yeast is rich in vitamin B, However, these 2 extra hours of daylight are a great boon and a blessing, for it grows dark at 7.30 now and it used to be terribly dreary just sitting and chatting after 7.30. The trouble is that there is simply nothing to sit and talk about in here! We have often noticed how trivial conversation has become. War news has always been the number one topic, except for occasional spates of repatriation or parcels etc..... So now we all diligently strain our eyes from 7.30 till 9.30 under our 25 watt lights and then grope around in the dark and go to bed!

The water suppply is still very uncertain. Sometimes it flows all day and some times it comes on just for a short time in the mornings and then not again till the evenings....

Source:

Anthony Crowley Charter, The First Shall Be Last: The War Journal of John Charter and the Memoirs of Yvonne Charter, Grosvenor House, 2018, pp. 439-441.