I started on the Post Book stamping letters with a franking machine and recording each letter in the book, then balancing the costs against the record of the stamper at the end of every day. At the same time I acted as relief telephone operator with the instruction that as no calls were supposed to… Continue reading 1939 – 41, Cluttons Part 2 of 3
Month: November 2010
1939 – 41, Cluttons Part 1 of 3
I describe the Cluttons of 1940 because it was a marvellous institution and to set the scene of the Westminster Home Guard. Told, misguidedly, going to university during the war was pointless because of evacuation and being called for service, I was articled as a Valuation Surveyor to the most august Surveyors in Britain, and… Continue reading 1939 – 41, Cluttons Part 1 of 3
1939 – 42, The London Blitz, Part 2
As far as I was concerned I could never be bothered to get out of bed unless the bombing was so heavy my mother insisted and then she and I sat in the cupboard under the stairs. It was there that I witnessed real fear, almost to the point of terror for the first time.… Continue reading 1939 – 42, The London Blitz, Part 2
Trial and Error
I will explain the title later, and for those who do not like rants, I am railing against statements made by the Chancellor to the Treasury. He is bringing in a set of new regulations and procedures to try and bring more people who are on the dole, back into work. A laudable aim, and… Continue reading Trial and Error
1939 – 41, The London Blitz, Part 1
The Guns I came home from evacuation in time for the blitz on London, so all the hassle of evacuation was totally negated, except it had been an incredible experience and I had learned more about life in one year than I would have in three or four, at home. At the time, among the… Continue reading 1939 – 41, The London Blitz, Part 1
1939 -41, Evacuation Part 3
I finished up with a Mr Bailey and his wife. He was a retired electrical engineer and had graduated from Oxbridge. His wife too had an academic background but her main interests were Craven A cigarettes and Bridge in that order, she was a chain smoker and had a small brown stain on her upper… Continue reading 1939 -41, Evacuation Part 3
!939 – 41, Evacuation Part 2
Lewes – A Place Apart In retrospect there was something almost magical about the months I spent there. I was not aware of this at the time, I was often unhappy, but who is sublimely happy all the time, contrast gives colour. Lewes, the Town, was the hub, but it was really the district which… Continue reading !939 – 41, Evacuation Part 2
1939 Evacuation Part 1
Encyclopaedia, make no mention of Evacuation, which affected 5 million children, in June ’39, disrupted families whose children were dragged off into the depths of the country, but also the poor devils who had to look after them. Evacuation is a sort of two way mirror, showing each group how the other lived. Not all… Continue reading 1939 Evacuation Part 1
How schools can model character
I was on board a corvette in Belfast Harbour; while repairing a set and talking to the wireless operator, an officer stuck his head into the office and said “Williams…” and then he stopped. “I thought you were Williams, ” he said, “You sound just like him.” I smiled, he left and I got on… Continue reading How schools can model character
Pre WW2, The 30s, Snobery and transport
In the 30’s the middle class had aspirations of, if perhaps not ‘ectually’ moving up a class; perhaps being accepted as an appendage to the upper classes. This involved display, like a cock pheasant in the spring, only it was even more prevalent among the females who were the prime movers, having nothing else to… Continue reading Pre WW2, The 30s, Snobery and transport