大象传媒

It must be summer 1944,my brother billy and me are enjoying the summer school holidays because today we are out shrapnel hunting.we were told only to go to the end of our road in case the air raid siren went off,we had already been there so no point in going again,anyway as 6and8 year olds we knew pigs alley was a better hunting ground.now pigs alley was a kind of dump cum scrap place about half a mile from our house in eastbournia avenue,to get there we have to go the long way round because our auntie het was at the front gate watching us head to the bottom of our road.when the coast was clear we headed through to st.malo avenue and onto granvile avenue and into town road.As we turned the corner past blackwells post office we heard the drone of an engine which,when we looked up saw an airplane that was nothing like those we had seen before!of course not,it was a doodlebug!.We must have been looking up for a minute or so when the engine stopped and a mans voice from the cafe next to blackwells shouted "get in here you boys" it was the owner Henry Sully,we went into the cafe and laid on the floor underneath a table with him on top of us both.I dont know how long we were there but we never heard a bang so i guess it was a dud.Then a womans voice was shouting "Billy,Bernie" it was auntie het,"in here mrs"yelled mr sully (nearly deafenend me,i was up that end).When she came into the cafe i noticed she had tears running down her face and in her hands was a crowbar!was this to dig us out or to chase us home?I guess i shall never know because i was too young to ask at the time.Sadly they have all but me passed on,and even though sixty years have gone by some things change very little.I took a trip back to my old home just a couple of months ago and though its changed beyond recognition,Blackwells shop with its bricked up windows and sullys shop next door,still trading as a post office and cafe.I stood there looking for a few minutes getting a little choked up,was it because i didnt get any shrapnel that day.I dont think so.As for the doodlebug,it probably finished up in the Deephams sewage farm about 300 yards away.My father told me after the war,some 10 or 12 unexploded bombs and things were dug out!

Bernard Monk.

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