Monday, 1 January.

On reaching home on Friday night I found a telegram saying Jim was in Salford Royal Hospital near Manchester. I was pleased to know he was [in] England, but that was all the information we had and it was a bit worrying. At the same time there was a note from the tenant asking for a plumber to attend to a burst in the bathroom and making the usual stipulation: before 9.30 a.m. or Saturday mornings. I just wrote back and said she must find her own plumber as it was bad enough to get one at all without restricting them to those hours, and I would pay for the repair. On Saturday morning there was a letter from Jim saying a bit about the journey home. He is on a milk diet but during the journey (which seems to have taken the best part of a week) he had to take what he could get and felt none the worse for it. It seems most of his possessions have been left Abroad and his only money is Belgian. He had to owe someone a penny for a morning paper, and an old gentleman had come round and offered them writing paper and a stamped envelope, so he took some to write home.

There was a thaw Saturday morning but by teatime it was freezing again and still holds. A friend of Jim's sent us some apples for Xmas so on Saturday afternoon I returned the cloth bags they were in as bags are very precious. You have to provide your own paper when shopping. We had the Barretts to tea on Sunday and this morning I took up stair carpet etc. and went to see about getting ceiling repaired as Jim may get home when he is better and want his own room.

The news is that during Friday night there was an earthquake felt from Manchester to Darlington. No damage was done but people thought it was the effect of some new German weapon.

Wednesday, 3 January.

The men are coming next Monday to put a new ceiling in my bedroom. We are in a muddle, and there will be a mess. I hope we get straight before there is a likelihood of Jim coming home. We had a letter from Jim written on Xmas Day in Belgium.