Memories of a Non-evacuee

My Dad had voluteered for the Marines when war broke out but he was classified Grade 4 because he had had a duodenal ulcer. So he became a Fire Watcher in the evenings and drove a lorry during the day time. I was two and a bit when the war started so I don't really recall much of the beginning. I remember my first day at school and how we used to go in to a shelter if the warning went during classes. At home we didn't have a shelter either indoors or out we used to sleep downstairs under a large oak table. That's My dad, my Mum and a Mr Jacca who owned the house and sometimes other people who because of the Blitz couldn't get home and stayed the night with us.
One of these was a lady who worked at the Air Ministry her real name was Kit Logan but my Dad called her "Boot Face" behind her back. The reason was that he slept on top of the table and every morning when he got up he'd nearly tread on her face as he got off the table.
I can remember the glow of the fires over the top of the houses and the sound of anti aircraft guns, one had a very distinctive sound so we christened it "Blankety Blank".
One day whilst walking with my Dad to my Nan's in Stoke Newington a plane came low over head and we could hear machine gun fire. We ran like mad and took shelter in someones house.
My most vivid memories are of later in the war when the doodlebugs were about. We would watch them until their motors cut out and then we would run for cover and pray that they didn't turn round.
On Sundays my mother and I would walk round to my Nan's for tea. This particular Sunday evening I had on a new suit and had been told to keep it clean. We had just got to the edge of Clissold Park when we heard the unmistakable noise of a "buzz bomb", we could even see the glow of it's motor in the dark. "Quick lie down behind that tree" my mother said. "No" I replied "I might get Dog's mess on my new suit". A swift clip of the ear and I was down behind the tree happily the buzz bomb exploded a long way away and there wasn't any dog's mess.

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