大象传媒

When I got to my first posting, in Newcastle, I suddenly felt a bit funny in my face and ears. I found I was developing mumps, which I must have caught from Betty, a girl in my hut in the training camp. I had to report sick to the medical officer and was was whisked off without delay in a closed van and deposited at a hospital. I had no idea where I was, but eventually found out that it was the City Isolation Hospital, which I had never heard of, but which indeed seemed to be in a very isolated spot, somewhere far away on the Town Moor. I was given a sparsely-furnished room with a high black iron bedstead, a small cupboard and one mat on the floor.

As a patient there, the isolation was certainly very effective, for I never saw a sign of any other patients (perhaps there were none) and was only visited occasionally by a nondescript nurse bringing me food on a tray, or a basin of water to wash with.

There was one other surprise visitor: the nurse came in one day and told me to take cover under the bedclothes as the chimney sweep was arriving! Sure enough I had a close-up view of the black-faced, cheerful man with his round spiky brushes, as he cleaned the chimney of the open fireplace, which must have been the only heating for that room in winter.

For a few days I was content to lie dozing with an uncomfortably swollen face, but although I had written a note to my parents as soon as possible, I knew that they would be worried about what was happening to me. I learned later that they had experienced great difficulty in finding out where I was. However, they had finally succeeded in making contact with someone in authority, and I was delighted to hear that they had obtained permission for me to go home until the period of infection was over. This must certainly have been an answer to my mother's anxious prayers, and I was soon enjoying the luxury of convalescence with all my home comforts.

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