26 Sep 1942, John Charter's wartime journal

After the evening meal there are several alternatives which Y and I adopt – we walk to ‘C’ bungalow at about 7:00 p.m. and sit and chat with Maudie for an hour. She generally spoils us with some sweets or a cigarette which Sophie O’Dell has sent in by parcel or some biscuits she has made. Maudie is very generous to people in these ways.

It is very pleasant sitting out in the cool of the evening, watching the sun sink behind the hills across the sea. The peaks of the hills behind which the sun sets sends great pencils of light and shadow shooting right across the sky to the east; like the bloody fingers of some great giant. It really is rather unusual and beautiful. However, all one can get out of Maudie is, “Give me a cold grey November sky over a bit of England and you can keep all your damned sunsets and sunrises out here!”  And I must say that is a sentiment that most of us hold in our hearts.