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The lines from one of our songs often rang through my brain: "On the sandy shores of France Looking Blighty-wards to sea, There's a little camp a-sitting And it's all the world to me For the cars are gently humming, And the 'phone bell's ringing yet, Come up, you British Convoy, Come ye up to Fontinettes On the road to Fontinettes Where the trains have to be met; Can't you hear the cars a-chunking Through the Rue to Fontinettes?
"On the road to Fontinettes Where the stretcher-bearers sweat, And the cars come up in convoy, From the camp to Fontinettes. And a'wasting army petrol Cleaning clothes, 'cos she's in debt." On the road to Fontinettes, etc. I longed to be back so much sometimes that it amounted almost to an ache! This, and the fact of being the only one, I feel sure partly accounted for it that I became ill.
There were not enough military cars to transport the men to Fontinettes, so besides our barge and hospital work we were temporarily commissioned by the Local Transport Office. I was detailed to take two officers inspecting the Archic stations north of St. Omer one wet snowy afternoon, and many were the adventures we had.
The Fontinettes ambulance train was a special one that was usually reported to arrive at 8 p.m., but never put in an appearance till 10, or, on some occasions, one o'clock. The battle of the Somme was now in progress; and, besides barges and day trains, three of these arrived each week.
A notable instance of this system was brought before the Institution in a paper read on the "Hydraulic Canal Lift at Anderton, on the River Weaver," by S. Duer, and another instance exists on the Canal de New Fosse, at Fontinettes, in France, the engineers being Messrs. Clark and Standfield, who have other lifts in progress.
It is interesting to note that the hollow space in the screw rods is heated by steam during winter, thus preventing the formation of ice in the machinery. During the eighties, locks for ships of 400 tons capacity were erected in England and France, at Anderton, Les Fontinettes and La Louvière. The lock at Henrichenburg, however, exceeds all its predecessors, not only in size, but also in security.
The batman eyed us suspiciously as we reached Fontinettes where he was waiting for the horses, and remarked that they seemed to have had a "bit roll." My topcoat I'm glad to say covered all traces of the "bit roll" I had indulged in on my own. It was a great ride entirely.
He always accompanied the lorry and was allowed to sit, or rather jolt, on the seat beside me, unrebuked. After breakfast there was the quay to clear up and all the many other details to attend to, getting back to camp about 3 to go off in an hour's time to barges. When a Fontinettes ambulance train came down, the lorry driver was lucky if she got to bed this side of 2 a.m.
Williams gave a tea and dance in the afternoon at her canteen up at Fontinettes. It was a picturesque-looking place with red brick floor, artistic-looking tables with rough logs for legs and a large open fireplace, typically English, which must have rejoiced the hearts of men so far from Blighty.
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