We were out in the country so there were no close
targets and we felt safe.
At Rivenhall it was a long way to the mess hall from our barracks so
in the morning we would come outside to smell the air to determine if
they were serving powdered eggs. If they were, we would just skip
breakfast. Real eggs were very scarce in England at the time and once
every week or two we were issued two real eggs. We kept them in our
lockers and on the mornings when we would smell the powdered eggs at
their worst we would carry our hoarded eggs down to the mess hall. We
carried them in our jacket pockets and it was difficult to make it
there without someone breaking them. If someone thought you were
carrying eggs, they would chase you all the way to the mess hall. They
got me once and it made a mess in your pocket! Anyway, our aim was to
get the eggs to the cook who would fix them any way you wanted while
you waited. We were still having classes in aircraft
identification and a lot of map study so that we would recognize all
the coastline of Europe and England. The boys were still playing poker
and Al Johnson was still borrowing money and paying me back every
payday. He owed me money most of the time. We went to London several
times and stayed at the Palace Hotel. It was near the center of London
and one of the best hotels. It made the English angry as we got the
hotel room and would fill the little gas heater up with shillings then
would go out to eat while it was running to heat the room up.
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