大象传媒

This story was submitted to the People鈥檚 War site by Allan Price on behalf of Jenny Ross and has been added to the site with his permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions.

During the war I was training to be a fever nurse at the Belvadere in Glasgow. The one thing I really remember from those terrible times was the humor people still had. It was so important to keep people's spirits up and the morale high.

We used to travel around the town on trams and busses. The conductors at the time were either young women or elderly men, as all the rest were probably away fighting.

I remember coming back one day on the bus from a nightshift with two of my friends who were also nurses. One of them was asking me if I knew what my off duty was that week. I told her I thought I was two afternoons and a night. She didn't hear me in the noise of the bus and asked me again.

Agian I said "two afternoons and a night". At that point the elderly gentleman who was the conductor came round asking for any fares, he looked at me and I was going to say two single fares please. What I actually said was "two afternoons and a night". Quick as a flash he replied "I don't know about the afternoons, but how much for the night?"

Another time we were travelling home and a man carrying a grandmother clock got on the bus. The bus was relatively busy, so he sat on one of the benches facing into the bus, placing the clock on his lap so he didn't take up too much room.

When the young lady conductor came round she looked him up and down, looked at his clock and said slyly "why can't you just wear a watch like everyone else?"

The blackouts were quite difficult for us, especially if we had to go home in them. I remember once walking down Sauchiehall Street and smacking straight into someone.

I jumped up and went over to see if they were allright, and to make sure they were not an elderly person or anything like that. I was feeling my way forward saying "are you ok? are you ok?" It turned out to just be a lamp post! and it was fine.

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