13 Mar 1945, John Charter's wartime journal

During the last few days I have been suffering from another mood of black depression. Life in this place seems to be growing more and more damnable and I wonder despairingly how much longer it is to go on. So many stupid little things happen which, in these trying circumstances, become upsetting in a most absurd way. I suppose living in these intolerably crowded conditions has gradually worn us down till our nerves are all on edge.

Keith Mackie and Jackie Anderson, who became engaged at the end of last year, have decided to be married at the beginning of April. Keith and Tony Sank share a boiler room on the servant’s verandah of this flat and Tony very nobly offered to move out if the rest of this flat would agree to him occupying the back of the kitchen. Hitherto we have kept in the kitchen a big wooden ice chest with a large shelf fixed across the back of it, and in the chest on the shelf we have kept our food tins (in which we collect our food), plates, mugs, cutlery etc. and bottles of drinking water and sea water; also frying pan and sauce pan. Other people in the flat also kept stuff in the kitchen. Of course, we all agreed to move our stuff out, but it was very inconvenient and meant we had to put the ice chest on the verandah and dispense with the shelf – all most annoying!

At the end of last year, when I was returning one morning with the breakfast tea, I trod on the edge of my dressing gown while climbing the stairs and went sprawling. Fortunately I saved the Lammert pot but our own was smashed. There were none left in the canteen so we were reduced to our thermos. Actually, during this cold winter, it has not been too inconvenient, for the thermos certainly kept the tea hotter, though it tended to get a little stewed. We always said that one day the precious thermos would be smashed – well, today was the day! Y was carefully putting it on the floor in a corner where we have kept it for safety, when it tipped over and smashed. Well, that was that. We decided straight away to buy another as without one life would really be too difficult. I wrote out a notice and took it to Roe to have it put on the board. We said: “Wanted to buy one medium sized thermos flask”.

It will probably cost us from Y250 to Y300 - £10 or £15 (pdv £450), for I shall have to write a cheque to obtain the Yen. Thermos flasks can be purchased more cheaply at the canteen – about Y200 for a refill, I think, but as, between us, we can spend only Y150 per month, it would mean forfeiting all our food purchases for about 5 weeks.

There has been rather a lot of friction in the room of late too, which tends to make things more difficult. The weather also has been putrid! Cold and foggy of late. However, no doubt things will brighten up soon.