大象传媒

At school in the early days of the war, as soon as the air raid sirens sounded we hastily put on warm clothing and gathered up our gas masks (and a book to read), then legged it at our best possible speed to the air raid shelters - these were situated on the far side of the sports field and consequently a long run in the open was involved (together with the occasional upward glance for enemy aircraft).

Each teacher had a sealed tin of biscuits (a delicacy normally rationed or unobtainable) and the rule was that only after a two-hour spell in the shelter could these be handed out.

To greedy little boys the prospect of the 'all clear' sounding just before the two-hour deadline was almost too stressful to bear - fingers were crossed and enjoinders muttered to the Luftwaffe to stay just a little longer!

An hour and fifty-five minutes was quite enough to trigger off pleas of "Please Miss can we open the biscuits now - oh Miss we're hungry." These cries were accompanied by sucked-in cheeks and general attempts to appear emaciated.

Unhappily, "Miss" always proved to be deaf to our pleas, giving her watch the meticulous scrutiny that we now associate with a referee. AME>

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