大象传媒

John's Memories

I was not in the army as I did essential work building underground offices in London, West Minster, Camden Town and Charing Cross. They were built 750 feet down under ground. I remember one night, they bombed Marylebone Station for four hours.

Nearby was a cellar with about a thousand bottles of whiskey, because of the intense heat the whiskey had evaporated, the bottles were all intact with the cork still in, but no more whiskey. This was funny, despite the terrible bombing that night.

I met my wife at a dance, I always liked the foxtrot and slow foxtrot, because one could whisper into your sweetheart's ear. We did not let the war stop, us we went dancing a lot, sometimes till one in the morning.

We all had identity cards, if you were caught without one, you had to go to the police station the next day and show it. It had your name, address and picture on it.

I remember another funny story, because of the food shortages and rationing, some friends of mine had managed to get six pigs from somewhere. They were travelling in a lorry, with the pigs in the back of it, they were stopped, the papers were ok, they were nearly gone when the pigs begun to grunt. They got three years in prison. I suppose it was against the law.

You could also get arrested if you were caught wearing army boots and you had to pay a fine. It was hard, but there was a community spirit, we all helped each other and shared a lot more than today.

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