The notebook belonged to my grandfather's brother - Albert McFarlane. I love
the notebook because it shows different sides to life in the trenches in
France. On one side there are notes about bayonet cleaning, his daily expenses and other day to day army activities and on the other his sketches and attempts to learn French in order to ask out local girls. It's a great
reminder of how ordinary people get involved in extraordinary events and also
how they continue to try and live their lives in as normal a way as possible despite the chaos around them. The notebook returned to England but Bert died
in France in 1919 of pneumonia.
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