大象传媒

Not so much a story but a short selection of memories.
Born in '34 so 5 years old when war broke out which makes very early years very hazy but do remember my father and neighbours digging up the garden to erect the Anderson Shelters....a place that I used to love to sleep as I was SO frightened of the dark and, of course, I was never alone in the shelter.
I recall travelling from Birmingham with my mother down to Compton Dundon in Somerset in 1941 and not understanding one word that the locals said but I have no idea of how we made the journey. Can only surmise that it was by train.
Carrying my gas mask to school. Eating Zubes and Glucose Tablets in place of sweets in the cinema.
My father coming home at 7pm from work and then going out to do home guard duty leaving me alone in the house until 3am..mother died when I was 8.
Real treat Fried onion and tomato with cheese melted on top served on a slice of bread and butter.
Buses with all of the windows painted black so that you could not see out even in the daytime.
NO street lights at all..so very dark!
GI's giving us gum...my first ever black american and they were so good to us kids who pestered the life out of them for gum and chocolate.
In many ways we were, of course, much better off than children today.
I was a typical Just William with socks around my ankles, a dirty face and always ink on my fingers..but I had the joy of an orange and an apple to go with my Beano/Dandy/Hotspur annual or the latest Biggles book. The excitement of playing Robin Hood with bows and arrows that we had spent all morning making before spending the rest of the dayin the woods with no one worrying their heads off as to where you were.
Dick Barton on the radio. Monday Night at Eight and the Man in Black.
Enough rambling. I will be into my teens and National Service next.

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