大象传媒

I tried as a child to help the War effort with unpleasant results for me!
It all began with a visit to my Grandmother's house in Jenner Road,Barry,South Wales during the War. I was staying there with my cousins,my aunt, my uncle and my mother.One night the siren sounded. We as children knew the drill. We collected our coats, hats, and bisuits and went outside down the uneven path where we were marched in the dark to the Anderson shelter in the garden.
Keturah, my cousin, is crying because she has lost her shoe when fleeing from the house.She is more unhappy with her cold foot encountering slugs than a shower
of bombs falling from the sky.
The shelter smells of damp, dank earth. We are squeezed in like sardines, and all that the grown-ups can talk about are ships, convoys, docks, gas-masks and bombs.
Then the "Allclear" sounds and we file back into the house. The next day my mother and I return to our home in Aberfan.
My mother is a teacher and once a month when she recieves her salary, she treats me to tea in "The Peter Pan" restaurant in Merthyr Tydfil where they serve scrumtious Kunzle cakes.On the wall of the restaurant a poster states "Careless talk costs lives". My mother explains to me what it means.I look around the restaurant and notice a man sitting on his own.He could be a German spy,I think, so I say in a loud voice "a convoy is coming into Barry Island tonight".
My feet hardly touch the floor and I am marched out of the restaurant. My mother is upset and I am scolded.I can't understand what I have done wrong.
I try to explain to my Mother that as the Germans are always bombing cities like Cardiff, Newport, and Swansea and as Barry is only a little seaside town with no big ships there,the German spy would tell the airmen not to bother to bomb the big ports as it is Barry that have the ships, but of course there are no ships in Barry only rowing boats and so the airmen could'nt do much damage there.
" But, convoys do come into Barry.It is not just a place where we build sandcastles and paddle" said my mother. "Special lorries go down to the harbour at night and they shoot out a magical fog over the sea that is so dense that our ships are not seen from the air and so can sail safely into the harbour without being attacked by the Germans".Oh dear!An overactive imagination and too many adventure books had ruined the monthly treat in"The Peter Pan" restaurant.We did return but I'm sure I was careful what I said in future!

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