Mexborough and Swinton Times December 29, 1917
In Egypt.
A Camel Trip To The Pyramids.
Second Air-Mechanic, G. L. Jones (R.F.C.), eldest son of 11r. and Mrs. G. L. Jones, of the Albion Inn, Mexboro’, is in Egypt, and finds his service there by no means uninteresting
Writing home, he tells of how he spent a “whole day off” recently.
He and a friend “started early in the morning to enjoy ourselves. We did. Cairo early, going through the native quarters and seeing their quaint customs and the places of interest then we went by train towards the Pyramids; we had either to continue on foot or to take a camel or a donkey. Seeing that we were out for a day’s enjoyment, we thought we would do the thing in style, so we hired three camels, the third for the guide, whom we had previously engaged. It was funny the way we wended our way through the sand astride the camels. Dozens of Egyptians ran after us to tell us our fortunes or sell us old Roman coins, silks, post-cards, , peanuts, sugar-canes, bits of the Temple, and hundreds of other things. We got rid of that crowd by cursing them,in good old English and using some very expressive Egyptian as well. The camels were not very rapid, but we eventually arrived at the Pyramids and had a good look at one of the most wonderful sights in the world. Then we mounted and trekked through the desert as far as the Sphynx, the Tombs, and the Temple—a most marvellous sight. , I cannot imagine how they got the huge pieces of granite into position. After having a jolly good look round we came back through a native village where the people live in excavations made by archaeological explorers. They were a horribly dirty-looking lot. After a very interesting afternoon we made our way tack to Cairo and looked in at the Zoo on our way.
Darkness was setting in, and when we got to Cairo we were feeling very hungry, and had a good feed—steak and chips, washed down with a couple of pints of beer. After that we found a picture palace and saw some jolly good films. We arrived in camp at 11. a 45, feeling very tired— `some’ day I am getting quite settled in this climate.
We had a, shower of rain yesterday, which makes the second since I left ‘Blighty’ (Aug. 28).”
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