大象传媒

The Parrot Story - A non-human story

While I was away in the RAF my mother and the rest of the family were at home in Cox Lane. There was an Andersen shelter in the garden for use during air raids. One night in the summer of 1944 my mother and the others decided to go to the shelter as they were concerned about the flying bomb (V1) attacks. The only one left in the house was the parrot who was in his cage with a cover over him. It should be pointed out that the parrot had lived with us in Roehampton before we moved to Ewell in the 1930s, and was rather vociferous with quite a few phrases, including swear words, which he had learnt.

It was fortunate that they had gone to the shelter as, during the night, a flying bomb fell nearby causing a lot of damage, and blowing away one wall of our bungalow. Apart from a few ruffled feathers the parrot survived the attack and was heard indignantly shouting,
- 鈥淐ome on you bs, go up the hill and have a bloody good fight鈥� , which was what my mother would shout at my brothers and me when we were arguing in our younger days at Roehampton. [The Ewell Local History Centre has on record one flying bomb having fallen in Cox Lane, Ewell on 5 July 1944].

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