大象传媒

One evening in August everyone went to the cinema, except for a friend Judy (whose husband was in Sumatra) and me. I had been on the beach much of the day, and went to bed early. Jonathan was fast asleep and I was just dropping off, when there was a knock on the door and Judy鈥檚 excited voice saying 鈥淭he war is over!鈥�. I thought she must be joking, until she told me about the bomb on Hiroshima etc, and the Japs had surrendered. It really seemed unbelievable and was so marvellous after the wretched years full of horror stories about PoW torture. It was wonderful to hear that the Japs were getting some of their own medicine. Then the others came in from the cinema and someone produced a bottle of sherry, and we all drank toasts to the Yanks who dropped the bomb.

I got on with the business of booking passages home on the Blue Funnel SS Sarpedon. My travel plans were almost upset by Jonathan鈥檚 attack of measles. Very fortunately, there was the usual dok strike on Sydney waterfront which delayed the ship in time for Jonathan to be out of quarantine, and I embarked thankfully, saying farewell to Melbourne.

We called in at Fremantle and the ship was again delayed, this time by the electricians strike, for which I was glad, as a note arrived sent on from the cousins at Chepstowe from Roy, who did not know quite where we were and said the surviving PoWs were being shipped home through Suez.

Our route was round the Cape calling in at Durban and Cape Town- pleasant in normal circumstances, but what all of us wanted was to hurry home. There were a large number of us refugees with children from about four years upwards, and they all had a marvellous time. As the vessel was a coal burning one, coal had to be taken on at Durban; a noisy business with coal clattering down all night into the bunkers and coal dust everywhere! The children became black and the crew had a big job cleaning up the ship on our way to Cape Town. We took a taxi to see the Town and the Botanic Gardens, where there were gorgeously coloured birds.

Back on board we set sail northwards up the West Coast of Africa, with the ocean getting rougher and greyer as we approached Liverpool. I had bought a special hat in Melbourne which I thought rather smart. Hats were fashionable at that time, but, as we approached the quay, there was Roy who shouted up 鈥淔or goodness sake get rid of that hat鈥�. So I threw it into the sea. I hardly recognised him because, having arrived in England several weeks previously, had been given double rations and lots of farm eggs, so he had put on weight very quickly and had a large round face. He was, of course, a complete stranger to Jonathan.

We stayed with the families to start with, before buying Milestones, which we furnished with borrowed bits and pieces until we could visit salerooms and buy what it was possible to get with coupons. So ended my war, but soon after returning to Malaya, another war broke out, called 鈥楾he Emergency鈥�, which made estate life very uncertain and thoroughly unpleasant. However, that is another story鈥�..

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