Up at 0600, what a time to rise, the earliest since I have joined the service. The P.T. this morning was the first for a long time. I got along alright, until we had a relay race in which you had to carry your partner on your back, when it came my turn I did alright on the outward journey but on the return I fell, right in a puddle of water. The result being mucking up my suit and ripping it, I did not mind my self, but I was sorry for the fellow who was on my back.
C.P.O Hamilton took us around the establishment this afternoon. I was surprised at the extent and lay-out of it. Everything seemed to be symmetrical. The instructional huts are well equipped and the parade is wonderful especially around its perimeter, with, Sheer Legs, Bollards, Sounding Boom, Lower Boom, Whaler and Cutter in crutches, loads man’s chains, dummy focstle, capstain, stages, boat dropping gear, whaler in davils, and the four drill sheds. We visited Main headquarters’s air raid shelter, I was surprised that they had no emergency lighting for lighting taken from the mains is very vulnerable. The may be easily remedied by fitting in a couple of M.T. I think it should be done, especially in headquarters shelter as all operations are carried out from here. Also the gas detectors seemed very dilapidated, the chemical composition on the metal plates had come off and corrosion set in. This means that they are useless for the purpose for which they are supposed to be there. On returning from our stroll around I saw a trainee climbing one of the masts, I just thought that I would rather fly in an aircraft any day than climb to the top of the mast.
On return to the mess I had a look at the newspaper. I found that Squadron Leader Bullock has been awarded a bar to his D.S.O. for his part in defeating a U-pack attacking an Atlantic convoy. He is a Belfast man and therefore a fellow citizen of mine.