Fine, warm cloudy.
German lesson aft.
Much talk re new ration scheme.
With Steve pm.
No news.
R. E. Jones Wartime diary: View pages
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Heavy low clouds & rain. Warmer.
Ground bread rice & carried food.
No news no rumours.
Choir practice 6.30pm.
“A Bill of Divorcement” at St Stephen’s.
Some letters arrived from Canadian repatriates.
Kids–3 8ozs. 5-9 10ozs. General 13oz. Light Labour 17oz. H.L. 20ozs. ((These look like rations, graded according to the size / workload of the recipient. Does anyone know what was being measured? eg is it the total weight of food per day, or ...?
Barbara Anslow thinks they're "the number of ounces of rice and or food given".))
Fine & warm.
Welfare soap & paper issued (soap Y2.38 paper 16sen per sheet)
Rehearsal for Welsh concert at St Stephens 10.30am.
Bit of sunbathing, washing & bath aft.
With Steve pm.
(All masts taken for junks?)
Typhoid inoculations causing some trouble.
Raffle No. 100.
Windbreaker.
Cloudy, cool.
Bread rice grinding.
Typhoid inoculation.
With Steve pm.
Rep. rumour re going to Vladivostock has gained ground.
Raffle for fur coat No.100 (No luck)
Fine, hazy.
Rumours re Continental landing & rep. still sticking it pretty well. Paper makes it obvious that the Russians are going ahead very well.
Black-out ordered & lights out at 9.30pm.
With Steve pm.
Overcast & cooler.
Rice grinding.
German lesson aft.
Russian news excellent.
Thompson managed to get 1 extra ration for the block & we have arranged for its distribution. ((Possibly one of internees G E F Thompson or L O Thompson.))
Dress rehearsal for our Welsh Concert at St Stephen’s OK.
Cup of tea with Steve after. He has developed shingles.
Cloudy, cool.
Received tea 1.06oz, sugar 1.75oz & peanut oil 6oz. (6 pkts cigs) (10 days)
No fresh rumours.
With Steve pm.
We expect more good or even better news re Russian progress & time seems to go slower therefor.
Overcast, cool.
Ground rice for bread & for Mary.
Roll Call cancelled.
St. David’s Concert at St. Stephen’s. Went off OK.
North’s notes compiled from recently arrived Nippon Times make very heartening reading & we wonder that the Germans have stuck it so long.
Roy had letter from Connie (Sept ’42) nothing new in it apparently. Plumb also had one from Jillott [?] All seems to be well with them all down there. Fuggle in a sawmill, Merriman & Jillott in Dept. of Mental Hygiene (Lunatic Asylum) Perry in Air-craft works, all on pension scale wages. ((Who was Roy? I guess the names were of people that had moved to Australia?))
Overcast, cool.
Tea & cakes with Steve aft.
Our choir went down very well again tonight. Carrying the harmonium back nearly put old Pudney out poor chap.
More rumours re evacuation 15th Apr.
Misty & wet.
Ground rice for bread.
Damned harmonium caused me to miss 1st 2 items in concert tonight. Lugged it back again & changed the reeds.
Lousy day.
2Pkts cigs issued.
New Moon.
Wet & muggy.
Food carrying.
2nd Typhoid inoc. Slight fever & headache.
With Steve pm. Talked about Queensland & the roaming therein.
No news, lousy day on the whole.
Japs send in money to pay workers 15sen & 10sen (women) per day. or in price equivalents, 5 day work for a box of matches.
Damp, muggy, improved pm.
Ground rice for bread.
Roll Call 2pm.
Saw Steve pm. He is about completely run-down sleepless nights & shingles. Hosp treatment for him.
Blast these little yellow rats & their enforced semi-starvation.
Jap Paper makes much of combined Jap & I.N.A. successes? in Burma. We cannot get a true perspective of the action & cannot tell its size or scope.
A hitch in negotiations is blamed for the delay in repatriation & not a shortage of shipping.
Overcast & damp.
Food carrying.
4Pkts cigs & 2 matches Y2.43 issued.
Repaired leaky tap.
Steve from hosp aft.
Paper news excellent re Russian advance & Germany’s prep’s for flooding Holland.
Read letter from G. rec. by O.B.
Rep. ((repatriation)) holdup due to differences in lists of internees in Philippines.
10 days rations. 4oz oil. 1.06oz tea. 1.74 sugar. 1.5 curry pwdr.
Dull, rained & blew pm.
Above rations issued. ((Probably the "10 days rations. 4oz oil. 1.06oz tea. 1.74 sugar. 1.5 curry pwdr." mentioned in yesterday's diary entry.))
Ground rice for bread.
Saw Steve pm & he is in a bad way really.
A lousy day altogether. Constant thoughts of food, fruit cake & slabs of chocolate predominate.
New system of roll-call promulgated.
Wet, cold, miserable. Many plants destroyed in the wind.
Joss sticks to save matches 3sen each. £1 notes offered for 3lbs. of rice.
With Steve pm. He is pretty ill I guess.
Truly a lousy day.
Wet, windy & miserable.
Ground rice for bread.
Food carrying.
German lesson.
Steve still bad.
(Germany caved in? Odessa captured? Nimitz force landed in Formosa? Selwyn-Clark executed?)
Wet & humid. Nothing to do but mope around. Everyone fed up.
Paper news tells of Buda-Pest’s first Air-raid & the US actions at Palau where they lost 2 cruisers. Russians doing OK. Atrocity yarns in connection with the Burma campaign.
Wet, humid.
Ground rice for bread. Grinder broke.
Roll call 2pm after German lessons.
Saw Steve pm. He’s much better.
Hatori gone to Japan.
Wet & muggy.
Grinder OK.
4Pkts cigs.
Our aircraft see to have been around this aft. Black-out ordered.
With Steve pm.
News OK especially about Russia & the bombing of Rum. Bul. & Hun. capitals.
Special issue of congy for Good Frid.
Damp, humid, overcast.
Ground rice for bread.
Food carrying.
Sun fairly powerful through the clouds.
Many floors up due to dampness. ((In Hong Kong's damp springtime weather, wooden flooring swells and lifts.))
With Steve pm. He’s ill & so is Mary.
Full moon.
2 letters Nov 43 rec, 1 Home & 1 Bob.
