大象传媒

As a child in London we would only get one ice cream a week. For this my mother would have to stand in line with many others along the North Circular Road until I came out of school and take her place for my ration of ice cream.
We lived next to the Cambridge Hotel, which was very big and had two large car parks.This was where we would ride our little 3 wheeler bikes and where we would sit outside the entrances which had hardwood blackout screens. The cellars underneath the hotel were our air raid shelters.
Americans from the East Anglian air bases would come to London and my Mum would let two of them stay in our home. When we went up from the shelter in the morning there was usually a bag with sweets and things hanging on the door knob. But after a German air raid one night we went up to find that all our windows had been blown out and the doors had been blown off. Inside the ceilings had fallen in and our piano was studded with glass which shone like diamonds.
My school was Oakthorpe Infants and we often had to go to the school shelter when the siren sounded. But I loved the orange juice we were given and then getting the camp beds out for a quick sleep.
At the end of the war the hotel car park was the venue for our VE Party, and of course American and British servemen swamped the hotel and car park for a good old knees up! I remember seeing them trying to ride my 3 wheeler bike.
Like most children we would collect shrapnel after a raid and I still have a bag with odd bits in.

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