大象传媒

In 1944 when the Germans were firing V1 flying bombs, or Doodle Bugs at England, I was living in north Croydon. I was seven at the time and I remember spending a lot of time under the Morison shelter, as the Air Raid Warning and All Clear sirens seemed to be going all the time.

Some friends nearby were living close to a house that was hit by a flying bomb. Fortunately none of our friends were injured, but their house could not be lived in, so initially they came to live with us. When they found somewhere to stay on a more permanent basis they moved on. The one thing they left behind with us was a small ginger kitten. We called the kitten Ginger Rash, after his owners.

A few days after Ginger鈥檚 owners had left; my mother and I were eating fish and chips for lunch. Since there were only the two of us, rather than using the cumbersome Morison shelter to eat from, which was situated in the dining room in place of the dining room table, we used a small card table in the sitting room. We had only just started eating when the Air Raid siren sounded. My mother insisted we should leave our lunch and go and shelter under the Morison shelter, which was, of course, in the other room.

After a short while the All Clear sounded.

We returned to the sitting room and to my dismay found Ginger Rash had taken full advantage of the flying bomb attack.

He was sitting on the table eating my fish!

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