大象传媒

My Father had a petrol pump in his garages for use in the haulage business and from time to time, I had to go to an office in Monsanto Chemical works, where Mr Cook was responsible for the allocation of petrol coupons for the lorries. These were very strictly controlled. In the late summers, during the war, my Father would notice from the high cab of his Thornycroft lorry, blackberries growing beside the road in areas like the Glynceiriog road. The next day, a friend and I would pack our lunches and go with him in the lorry in the early morning. He would drop us off at the strategic place and leave us there till he returned at tea time, by which time we would have basketfuls of blackberries for our Mothers. It was one way of defeating petrol rationing and food shortages.
Telephones were fairly uncommon in those days, except for business people and ours was the only phone in the Cae Coch area. Every evening, the local ARP Wardens came to our house to ring headquarters to find out whether the warning was purple or red, because planes bound for Liverpool passed over our airspace. Of course, there was also Monsanto Chemical works as a possible target. If it was red, the siren usually went off.
There were many nights spent in our cellar. The coal had been swept to one side and my Father bought a bench from the garage and some redundant chairs from the house. All the residents of Cae Coch lane shared it with us, including one newborn baby. One night when they dropped bombs on a nearby mountain, it sounded as if the whole area had been devastated, because of the rocky nature of the land.

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