I’m glad you enjoyed it. It was good to get the chance to see the Van Daan children, if only briefly. I wonder if Francis will improve his French…?

It’s completely fascinating. There’s an old book about it on Project Gutenberg which gives a huge amount of detail. Allowances and billeting were at the expense of the British government and the French did the same for British officers in France. There are all sorts of discussions about the amount of the allowance as Britain was more expensive than France. Marriages between officers and local girls were fairly common which was what gave me the idea.