First Christmas away from home - Tony Cunnane's Life and Times

These are some more unedited extracts from my diaries covering my first few weeks at RAF Gangodawila in Ceylon at the end of 1954. Some of the language, for example my use of the word 'native', is not how I would write these days. However, that was how the language was used in 1954 and I knew no better then. I have left my words as I originally wrote them but there was then, and is now, absolutely no racist connotation.

Sunday 19th December 1954. This afternoon I did 20 minutes sun bathing. It was extremely hot. I got a slight tan in such a short time. From 1630 until 1800 I watched our football team playing a team of locals. We won 3-0. I took some photos. A crowd of native boys wanted their photos taken so I obliged.

Monday 20th December 1954. This morning in the section I helped another Junior Technician doing a weekly check on the VF equipment - the stuff which sorts out the teleprinter tones. I then did a daily inspection all on my own on three T1131s. Isn't it wonderful - me a fitter doing a mechanic's job! After dinner I had myself treated by the local barber who comes here once a week. He is very efficient and takes a pride in his job. I had a haircut and a shampoo and it cost me about 1s 8d. We had a slight diversion this morning when a three-ton lorry ploughed through eight aerial feeders. They were all in use at the time. This evening the billet was transformed into a cinema. A 16mm projector is used and we normally get two shows a week. It lasted about an hour and a half and I enjoyed it. It was much cooler today and we had several rain showers.

Tuesday 21st December 1954. The senior technician in charge of the section went to Negombo today so we were left to look after ourselves. There was very little to do and time seemed to drag. I learned how to tune an AR88 - not that there is much to it - and then spent the biggest part of the morning listening to the second Test Match from Australia. At the end of the day Australia need 169 to win with two days and eight wickets left. Today was a relatively cool day with quite a lot of rain at times.

Wednesday 22nd December 1954. Our senior technician had a slight panic today because Flt Lt Gibbs, the signals officer, visited us for the day. He is the chap who interviewed me when I first went to the Signals Centre. He is a jolly decent chap. We had a pay parade at 1115 this morning. We had to wear uniform and berets which caused quite a stir because pay parades are usually informal affairs here as far as I can gather. I got 70 Rupees (£5 5s Sterling at 13.3 Rupees to the pound). I now have over 180 Rupees - all last week's pay is practically untouched. There is very little to spend it on.

Thursday 23rd December 1954. I reported sick this morning with frequent bad headaches - more as a skive than anything else. I did find out one thing. The MO at RAF Colpetty suggested taking salt tablets as this often cures headaches, stomach disorders, etc when one first arrives in this country. This afternoon I went to Colombo with Don Taylor and another chap. We went by taxi and I paid. It was extremely hot but I didn't feel really uncomfortable. We went round various book and photographic shops and I priced a Weston exposure meter - it came to £11 5s which is 17 shillings dearer than in the UK. When we'd finished our wanderings we walked as far as RAF Colpetty and got a taxi from there.

Friday 24th December 1954. Today was another very hot day. This morning I stopped in the billet and wrote some letters. There are plenty of people I could write to and I have plenty of time but I never seem to get down to it. Today was the first day of the Christmas Grant. This afternoon I went out with some of the others onto some open ground behind the camp and had game of cricket. There were only five of us but we had a good time. However, I think I stopped in the sun too long (about 2 hours) because tonight my shoulders are burnt and painful. This evening there was a social evening in the club and guests were invited. We all put on fancy dress. I concocted something out of a pair of pyjamas. We went around the village singing carols - fancy dress and all. It was all rather ridiculous but very good fun.

This evening I listened to the round the world programme and the Queen's speech from London on the BBC General Overseas Service.

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