大象传媒

This story was submitted to the People鈥檚 War site by Dianne Burtrand of Chelmsford Library on behalf of Alex Jeffries and has been added to the site with his permission.
The author fully understands the site鈥檚 terms and conditions.

In 1941 I started a new job. I was an office boy in Brettenham House, a modern building close to Waterloo Bridge.
There were continuous windows on two sides of our office. I worked from 8 till 4 which was good because I missed the rush hour and could ride my bicycle to work when the buses were erratic because of the bombing.
One morning I had just started to sort the post when the sirens sounded. Everything happened very quickly - the guns, the throb of the engines and the modulated whistle of the bombs. I lay on the floor as the windows appeared to curve inwards like transparent balloon skins. Under a desk I saw, with extraordinary clarity, the texture of the mahogany and the black painted legs. There was huge pressure and the air filled with sound and broken glass. Papers swirled about and pencils hurtled across the room. Slowly I got to my feet unharmed. Shards of glass were embedded in the walls, the furniture. Chairs were overturned and telephones dangled at the end of swaying wires. Everything was coated with dirt.
I looked out the hole where the windows had been, across the Embankment gardens to the River. A tram was coming drunkenly towards me. It was glassless, the roof sagging and the mullions twisted. The sides were pock marked with splinter holes. The driver clanged his bell in triumph or defiance.
Minutes later the office door opened and the girl came in, her clothes torn and filthy. She had blotches of blood on her face and arms and her hair was in wild confusion. Her eyes were diamond bright and she could not stop laughing. She had been on that tram.
In the wreckage of the room we hugged each other and jigged around the chaos of the broken desks, slipping on glass, singing incoherent songs.
Suddenly we fell silent and began to clear up the mess. Soon the senior staff began to arrive and normality returned.

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