Inside the door was a reception room where
those who had business of any sort showed their credentials, signed
the necessary form, and were sent on to the various departments to
charge of a boy scout. Cots in the corridors, and specially walled-off
offices indicated the expansion going on in the various departments.
The war office authorities were going at the problem in hand in a most
unbusiness like way as far as the enlisting of recruits was concerned
but already had 800,000 men in training in England. Those in training
were not even equipped with rifles and uniforms.
After all the fault-finding in Canada before we left about the
slowness in getting us away it was interesting to learn that our
contingent had probably been more quickly outfitted and prepared for
the field than any other territorial or militia unit in the Empire.
In the course of my stay I dined at many of the famous London
restaurants, but the larger ones were usually empty and depressing.
One had to eat somewhere and one might as well take every possible
opportunity of seeing this phase of life in London in war time. One
night at the "Carlton" there were not twenty others present; even the
waiters seemed to be dejected, probably at the falling off of their
revenue from tips, and we left as soon as possible and went over to
the Royal Automobile Club in search of something brighter.
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