Well, here goes, dredging up childhood memories of life in war time Britain...
I was born in Luton in 1941, (very near Bletchley Park [Ultra, etc] and Leighton Buzzard...8 USAAF base.)
I remember hordes of troops exercising when we evacuated up to Glasgow. Seems like the streets were filled with soldiers. Rations were scarce. I recall that marzipan and a licorice stick was a great treat when it was available.
I remember my mother having food coupons.
I remember the pervasive smell of bunker oil, living near the Clydeside.
I remember the colour gray...no other colours, just gray...atmosphere, ships, buildings.
I remember wearing short pants, "breeks", 'cause there was no money to get long trousers.
I remember the Anderson shelter in our back yard.
I remember goods trains shunting troops and supplies along railway lines from Ibrox and Moss Park.
I remember my grannie "doing her messages", which meant daily shopping, trying to find food from shops with the shortest queues.
I remember watching Pathe movies at the "pictures" (cinema), showing how the Allied forces were doing so good.
We moved back down to London in 1944, figuring that all was well and that aerial threat was over.
I remember sitting in a shuttered window sill, playing with a seltzer bottle. A bomb, V1 or V2, blasted nearby. I was sucked out of the sill and landed in a nearby coal bin.
I remember awakening in Royal Victoria hospital, with the stench of ether fumes about me. Broken arm, head fractures (which to this day have affected my left eye vision).
I remember leaving Southampton aboard the SS Aquitania, bound for Pier 21, Halifax.
I remember.
Fellow MLUers...this is almost like a mental purge. Having written all of the above, the tears are streaming down my cheeks.
Pardon me.
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PRONTO SENDS
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