´óÏó´«Ã½

Unnecessary Suffering

It would be about a couple of months after the war had started that mother said to us one day, ‘when we go out shopping remind me to get some toothpaste because we haven’t any.’ Father said ‘Oh, yes we have, because I used it this morning.’ Mother said ‘We definitely haven’t because I put the empty tube in the dustbin.’ So my sister dashed into the bathroom to find out for certain. She came back with a tube in her hand and said ‘oh gosh! Not this!’ It was a tube of pile of ointment and we all fell into fits of laughter. Father was a pipe smoker like his father and four brothers, so he obviously couldn’t taste the ointment. He only smoked Thin Twist, but it went off the market, so he just had to smoke herbs from the herbalist’s shop in town for the next four years.

He was forty eight years old when he started with Bronchitis and Asthma. He died thirty years later after much unnecessary suffering.

Very Nervous

Father was in the A.R.P (air-raid precaution) and was a Warden. He was on duty as soon as the siren sounded and would put on his special navy woollen trousers, jacket and beret with a badge and an armband. He also had his tin hat and gas mask in a cardboard box on a long cord, which he wore over his neck and shoulder. Mother would help him get into his clothes and by the time he was ready he was shaking like a leaf. I felt sorry for him and I worried a bit. He was so very anxious and nervous. He also had a stirrup pump, a whistle and a hand bell. All church bells were silenced and could only be rung if there was ever a warning of us being gassed or if parachutists were being dropped. Thank god it never happened. The A.R.P. centre was at our school so father hadn’t far to walk to get his instructions. I convinced myself that he’d be a lot better when he was with the other men.

I can remember seeing mother in the mornings kneeling on the floor and leaning on the front of the settee in the living room to say her prayers. I once walked into my parent’s bedroom in the middle of the day and found both mother and father kneeling at the side of the bed praying. They didn’t move so I just walked out again.

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