大象传媒

When the headmaster found that the older boys were lying in wait for us when we left school, to bully and frighten us, he singled out the ones causing the trouble and thrashed them in front of the class - a thing my sister and I had never seen before as the schools in Liverpool were single sex. I was amazed at how hard he hit them but it did stop the worst of them and produced a protector in the shape of the boy who lived further up the hill from us. He took to going to and fro from school with us and as he had a large dog which went everywhere with him and would tackle anyone Yoravith told him to , we were spared a lot more hassle.
At length I began to despair of our situation, my sister's severe homesickness, our difficulties in a school where the main language was Welsh, the lack of the cleanliness we were used to etc. and I sent a postcard to my dear old great-aunt asking for us to please be returned home, and so settling our problems. Two days later our mother arrived unexpectedly and was horrified at our dirty and smelly clothes, my sister's thinness and our general air of unhappiness. She and my great-aunt packed all our things and took us on the long journey home again.
Grimy old Liverpool looked wonderful to our eyes, although had we been able to appreciate it the Welsh countryside was much more beautiful. My father got an earful of his sister's failings and my mother declared that we would all stay together and face what Hitler had in store for us - which turned out to be the really fearful bombing of Liverpool the following year.

漏 Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. Find out how you can use this.