大象传媒

Travelling was difficult during the war years. Very few people had cars, and those that had them were careful that their precious petrol ration was used sparingly. Last buses wher I lived tended to leave on their final journey at about 8 pm - and to have any chance of getting on one, passengers had to be in the queue before 7 pm.

As a teenager, I lived in the country 3 miles from the nearest town. There were no street lights or lights showing from houses, as all windows had to have effective blackout material so that not a chink of light showed outside. Even thos few cars on the road had only masked headlights to guide them. Most buses ran to full capacity, so were able to pick up few passengers during their journeys.

If my friend and I wanted to see a film ib the town, we would go for a bus, and if we could not get one we would run the 3 miles to town - and be there before the next bus arrived! We knew, of course, there would be no bus home; it was a matter of walking back, or, if we were lucky, "thumb" a lift in a passing car (if there were any!).

Of course, there was no such thing as television in those days, but we never expected that "they" would lay on entertainment for us. We knew it was up to us to organise a youth club, or find venues for outside games or sports.

On the whole, they were happy dats, with much less grumbling than we hear today.

Stan Driver

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