Dearest, it is now 9/2/42. It is very difficult to write these days. We have a certain amount of communal labour to do and that seems to take most of one's energy - then one has only to wait from one meal to the next. I do the cooking for the 3 of us and make tea for the whole flat. We have porridge as an extra for tiffin and then boil up the leftover rice from tiffin and dinner into a pudding for dinner. I never want to eat rice again!
Cheero Darling. I can't write more now. B
Notable for fried fish in a.m., and pasty in evening.
Today the first term of schooling in Camp begins.
The Temporary Committee meeting hears a letter from Dr. Selwyn-Clarke expressing grave concern at the appearance of early signs of malnutrition amongst the internees and recommending a universal medical examination.
The American community meets at 2 p.m. in the Club House Rooms and various reports are read. The Japanese have offered everyone with a bank account in Hong Kong $50 for food, but this is declined.
The newly-built American kitchen is opened.
It's the most nervous day in Jan Marsman's life. Tomorrow he begins his escape.
Sources:
Schooling: Geoffrey Emerson, Hong Kong Internment, 1973, 189
Temporary Committee: John Stericker, Captive Colony, 1945, Chapter IV, page 12
Meeting, kitchen: Maryknoll Diary, February 9, 1942
Marsman: Jan Marsman, I Escaped From Hong Kong, 1942, 191
Not much doing today. No home news. Ex Indian old broken furniture auctioned off at ridiculous high prices. (Cane chairs $1 new going for $5) Cold & damp. Latrine trench.