大象传媒

It was during the Blitz and my husband desperately wanted a new pair of slippers so I told him I would go up to North End to buy him a pair. I asked my next door neighbour to mind the children. I went to the main shopping area in Croydon, and I thought it was rather stange that there weren't many people about. So I went to go into British Home Stores, picked up a pair of slippers, and was wandering around looking for someone to pay - and suddenly a raucous voice from the back said, "What the so-and-so hell are you doing in here?". It was a warden. There's a So-and-so, 2000lb bomb in here. (It was the biggest bomb that was ever dropped on Croydon - but they were always lousy hitters!) So I got the slippers in my hand, he grabs me, and whisks me out of the store, and across the road into an underground shelter -still clutching the slippers. The all clear went, and I went home with the slippers still in my hand. I didn't even realise that I had them. I went back to the store the next day, and I was greeted, with "Arrh, yes - We've heard about you!" I offered to pay, but the manager said, "As you very nearly got blown up, you can have them on us." The best thing was that the marvelous bomb disposal chaps had come along, and made sure that the bomb didn't go off.

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