Wednesday 27th
… News—Stalingrad army [German] is now practically annihilated, Churchill and Roosevelt meet in Casablanca—Stalin unable to come due to being C-in-C etc. Max suggested at lunch that this was because “Dictators never like to leave their controls”—which started a long and heated argument. zru zlb zag zpn
Friday 29th
… Martin went back on Monday. Poor Mommy, to have to see him go back still seriously ill, to go on working at terrific strain, like the others, under the short sighted policy of working flat out till death (practically) stops you. May officialdom be moved by this plea of expediency if not by humanity—which of course with their vital work would plead the other way, only Martin is my brother and Mommy’s son. … zfl zil zem
Sunday 31st
A Rainy dawn. After discoursing on the comfort of beds before getting up, we were just in time for breakfast. Then I messed around, did some daily flute practice, and looked out on the grey view. Feeling disgruntled I walked out quickly alone along the headland, where a magnificent gale and big splashy waves quite restored my spirits, and I came back and wrote about it. … zwr zmu zem zwk zdw
The usual drag to and from chapel, Habby preached—he’s not an orator, and I read more of Lin Yutang’s happy philosophy. It’s all very well, but it wants to be distributed. … zrl zby
February
Monday 1st
59 days till freedom. Of 320,000 men round Stalingrad, 48,000 (I think) are prisoners, the rest are corpses. What a world. … zsr zru zlb zwc
