Re: life as a london school boy
Tom Holloway (xuegx@CSV.WARWICK.AC.UK)
Wed, 2 Jul 1997 00:51:22 +0100
Hello Isabel - you asked me....
>I have recently read messages from you about, how when you
>were a child in London during the Blitz you remember people
>singing and dancing and how you actually slept on the tube
>station platform.
Singing yes - there was no point in trying to get to sleep
until the last train left after 11, so it was very much the
'done thing' to enjoy yourself a bit. The wireless couldn't
work on the platform (nowhere to plug 'em in), but there was
always a jolly crowd ready for a bit of community sing-song.
Dancing - no. No room for that (although I have a dim
memory of a couple of squiffy women doing a bit of 'knees-up
muvver brown').
>Do you remember hardships eg not having things to eat? Were
Not much - I got tired of being told to scrape the jam a bit
thinner because we had used up our ration already, but I was
well used to bread and scrape (marge or, with luck, some
dripping with brown stuff that settled to the bottom*).
>you ever evacuated?
Briefly, but it was the 'phony war' of 1940 and after a couple
of months my Mum decided London was safe enough and came and
collected me.
Tom Holloway
(copied to family, for their amusement)
--------------------------------------------
[If you want to try 'bread and dripping', just fry up a few
sausages and while the fat's hot, pour it into a basin with
a spoonful of marmite. When it gets hard, spread it on your
bread instead of butter. Even better, take it into school
and give it to the kids for a bit of 'INSTANT EDIBLE WORLD
WAR TWO'.]
======================================
Tom Holloway - (+44) (0) 1926 888333
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Internet: t.holloway@warwick.ac.uk
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