T. E. Lawrence Correspondence – Page 395

To H.G. Hayter, 21 Kelmscott Road, S.W. 11 (L.A.C. Hayter, Royal Air Force, Miranshar Fort, Waziristan.) 28. VI. 29. 338471 A/C Shaw R.A.F Ottewster Plymouth. 28. VI. 29 Dear Hayter I am a miserable slut not to have written to you before. Alas, I'm so weary of being yet a crawler on the surface of the earth that I would rather sleep than eat or think or work or read or write. Too lazy even to put a record on the gramophone. You did very well to let F/Lt Smathan have those records: and he stumped up decently for them. I hope that 23 Sqdn. have settled in peacefully and are decent souls. How's Corpl. Easton? Tell him to come home. England is better than Miranshai. I've got my A M W O's published, about bayonets to church and overcoat top buttons. Now I want bayonets declared obsolete, and kit inspections made annual. After that we must wash out sticks. O Lord: and I am so tired, and want so much to lie down and sleep or die. Die's best: because there is no reveille. Tell Corpl. Easton that his wife is looking ever so much better. She and I sit in committee on his last letters. I think all's for the best; except the change of Government, which puts Nancy's nose out of joint. Who's Nancy? Why, ask the Corporal. Sgt. Cowton I met in London ten days back. We had an 8 o'clock breakfast at Lyons in the Strand on Sunday: when you were in bed and your hound on top of you. Peggy Wess Erben, a photographer from Miranshai, turned up here yesterday, disguised as a Corporal. Camouflage is very good: but I am too hard for a MacDonald. If it was Miranshai I would dodge under a net and forget my sins and the world's weariness. Oh, the books. I got bundle upon bundle of them,