大象传媒

I was 11 when war started, living in Hemel Hempstead. For the first 2 years we had a succession of evacuees, first relatives then a schoolgirl from Kilburn. When she left school, my mother started war work in a local factory. We lived at the top of a hill and could see the reflection of the fires in the sky over London. We had very good school dinners, for which I was very grateful, as rationing was very strict. My aunt worked in a grocers, but could only let us know when anything special, such as dried eggs or tins which were on points, were delivered. I always remember 鈥渢omato sausages鈥� in the window of the butchers. Two aunts were bombed out 鈥� one in Southsea and the other in Tooting. The one from Tooting came to stay with us till she could be rehoused, and she worked at Peak Freans, so when she could she brought home canteen sales of broken biscuits- a real treat for me and my sister. We were in the path of the American bombers going over to the continent, and we would stand in the garden counting them going over. One evening our schoolgirl evacuee, her whole family and their cats, turned up asking for shelter, because they had an 鈥渁ck ack鈥� battery at the bottom of their garden and were desperate to get some sleep. I think we had mattresses on the floor in every room in the house.

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