大象传媒

I remember before war was declared, the crowds were all standing around Bairds for days, you couldn鈥檛 get past them, and then it was joyful when it happened, we were thrown into it.

I remember that night, coming home in the tram, and there were no lights 鈥� we wondered how we鈥檇 know where our stop was; that was a bit of a problem. Then they gradually got the wee small lights that just shone down straight, but you had to know your own district and your stops!
We got lost a few times 鈥� we got off a stop too soon or a stop after, but not often, not on the dark nights when it was late on in the night time.
I remember I joined the ARP, which was just round the corner from us, and there were a lot of fellows our own age and I didn鈥檛 know my husband then.

A woman whose husband was a policeman lived facing us; she was in the ARP and through her I met my husband. Whenever the sirens went off I always went over and called for her 鈥� she had her children evacuated. She was a lover of scallions and before she let me come in, I had to eat a scallion so I wouldn鈥檛 smell her breath! 鈥攖hat鈥檚 the thing that sticks out in my mind. I used to sometimes sleep in her house; that was when I met my husband 鈥� he was in the army and he asked me out and we hitched up. He was already in the army, he鈥檇 been through Dunkirk.

I was in the ARP throughout the war, and the Red Cross. When the first bomb went down I was in the ARP that night and my sister and mother were in the house. We lived in Keadyville Avenue in the docks area, and if you had so many rooms in your house, whenever seamen were wrecked, you were compelled to take someone in. So we were compelled to take a navy man in 鈥� Ernie, he was the longest.

I came round from the ARP that night and I was put in charge of some woman who couldn鈥檛 control herself in the shelter and she nearly had me round the bend, because she kept saying 鈥淥h Jesus鈥� every time a bomb went off! It was hectic! I had to control her, she had everyone in nerves. When I came round the next morning, my mother, sister and the sailor came out from under the table and all we could see was the whites of their eyes and their lips 鈥� they were all covered in soot!

This sailor, he was worse than any of us, and he said, 鈥淚 would rather be on a ship any day as be in the like of this鈥� 鈥� I suppose on a ship he would be busy, but here he was just lying like us, feeling helpless.

Our house had been damaged, and they told us to go somewhere and get food. By the time we got up, it was a portion of this stew, but it was only potatoes because I think they had watered it down for so many people that it was more like soup. My mother said 鈥渟ure that wouldn鈥檛 fill you, come on and see if we can do something for ourselves鈥�. Then we went to York Street; the whole place was bombed. At the corner, where the cathedral is, there was a butcher鈥檚 shop and everything round it had been bombed, but he was serving sausages! We couldn鈥檛 get over it! So we got a pound of sausages and nowhere to cook them!

We decided to go down to Greencastle (my sister-in-law鈥檚 sister lived there) and get something to eat there. The army brought us down, but when we got there, everything was on the ground, her whole house was gone. Then our worry was 鈥渨here was she?鈥�
Well apparently, her husband (her boyfriend then) was going home and they were parting when the sirens went off. He said 鈥渃ome to our house and have the company of the family鈥� rather than be on her own. She was very lucky 鈥� if she鈥檇 been in that house, she would have been killed.

So we didn鈥檛 get any joy there, we had to go all the way back to a friend鈥檚 house, who we鈥檇 been at school with and they were nice and comfortable and all. There was my brother, Elsie and I, and Doris and they offered to make us a cup of tea. We didn鈥檛 like to say how hungry we were. She came out with a plate and said, 鈥淭here鈥檚 tea, my Billy didn鈥檛 come in for his dinner and I made him a fry 鈥� could you eat that?鈥� Nobody would say yes or no, and then she said 鈥淚鈥檓 sure Ted could manage it鈥�. Ted said yes, and we sat and watched him eat everything, and we didn鈥檛 get anything. And the smell of it! You know what they say 鈥� 鈥渉unger finds no fault with the cook鈥�! They were horrified afterwards when they knew, because they said they could have made us a meal! But you didn鈥檛 know what circumstances everybody was in, we couldn鈥檛 go back to our own house because the water and the electricity was off.

We were supposed to spend the night in one of these places, but honest to goodness, the fittest of the fittest got a bed. We went to Ballynahinch, we had friends there and a man let us have a room 鈥� it had a wee stove and we stayed there till the end of the week and then we came home. We had to board the whole front of our house up and put the water on. We were able to live in it, it was our home. But none of the neighbours were coming round; we found we had mice and rats, because of all the bombing. They had really put the bomb down in York Park, and that鈥檚 why our houses were damaged. From there we moved up onto the Limestone Road, to a friend who had a house up there and we lived there for the rest of the war. We could have got back to it after 2 years, but we were married and one thing and another, and my mother just stayed there.

The Blitz was the worst time, when all the bombs were going off. But we had a good community within ourselves. It wasn鈥檛 like it is now; you don鈥檛 know who you鈥檙e talking to. We went to the dances and all and then we had the Americans come in. They gave us a good time! Very nice! All the ladies like them, very much so. Sometimes you got some food you hadn鈥檛 seen in ages 鈥� they always had candy and stuff, and fruit 鈥� your children didn鈥檛 know what a banana was until after the war.

The rationing was very bad 鈥� you got one egg a month. I kept my one egg for Tommy coming home on leave and when he came home, I cooked it for him that morning. He said 鈥減ut it down there at the fire, Violet鈥� and the dog came in and ate it! Until the day he died, I never forgave him for it, for eating my egg!

You got very little meat, so many ounces a head and you had to make do. The rest was in corned beef, and you only got so much of that 鈥� I won鈥檛 eat spam to this day! You got coupons for your sweets and once they were finished, that was it. You were always pretending that you hadn鈥檛 got your rations, but it never worked, not with the lady we had. 鈥淲hat do you take me for?鈥� she says, 鈥渃oming in here thinking that I鈥檓 going to give you more!鈥� When you wanted lemonade, you had to take your jug down. That was just the way it was.

Clothes were rationed too 鈥� whenever I was married you had to have coupons for everything. I was lucky I had just bought a new suit when we decided to get married, decided to do it in a hurry. We decided to go away on holiday and make it our honeymoon, down to Dublin. I had this suit I鈥檇 just bought, shoes I鈥檇 just bought and I borrowed a hat and gloves and a wedding ring, because gold was scarce. I bought a ring in Dublin. And that was all I was, all odd clothes!

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