Darkness Brings Strange Effects In British Cities

Northern Advocate, 23 May 1944, Page 3

Darkness Brings Strange Effects In British Cities

(By W. A. Whitlock, of New Zealand Overseas Press Delegation)

When night falls, London becomes a city of shadows and wraiths. There is something strangely insubstantial aoonl it. You may be in the midst of a multitude but ycu feel very much as if you were in a little world of your own with occasional dim companions. If you art driving in a taxi you find it hard to escape the feeling that you are travelling along a dark country road with high Trees on either side. Yet the dim forms are real people just as intent as you are on getting lo a destination, and when the taxi stops and you move warily towards what a moment earlier seemed to be a tall roadside hedge, push your way through a revolving door and a dark curtain, you magically find yourself back in a real world, with carpets and bright lights and colour, and men and women. Strange Tricks

The blackout, of course, can play manv tricks, not all ending with a happy entrance into an hotel foyer. A nruisi-ci nose cr a barked shin can very easily be achieved. Only the moon can triumph over the blackout and it is often a triumph of entrancing beauty, for there can hardly be any rarer piece of magic than darkened London beneath a full moon. Yet moon or no moon there are always crowds to be seen, or heard and felt in the West End at night. The visitor is amazed that so many people find it possible to throng the streets on the way to and from the theatres, dance-halls and cinemas. He is even more amazed that buses and taxis continue to run until late hours. The crowds certainly thin out round about eleven o’clock, but only a patient observer could say at what, hour the last band of revellers disappears, and the early workers begin to appear. West End Night Life

West End London has retained relatively more night life than other cities. It is the mecca of servicemen on leave, and with the American "invasion" moving towards full flood, all places of entertainment are doing big business. The theatres are crowded nightly. Long advance booking is necessary if you wish to be sure of seeing any of Ihe more popular shows. You cannot even be sure ol getting a seat ih a picture theatre unless you have taken the precaution of booking. In the provincial cities the situation is rather different. In consequence (lie blackout in Glasgow, Manchester cr Liverpool appears more severe in its effects than in London. A New Piccadilly Circus

Piccadilly Circus is a very different place from what it was in peacetime. Yet the crowds still throng round it day oi night. American uniforms may dominate the scene in daytime and American accents be frequently heard at night, bid the crowds are well mixed. It was an unforgettable experience to have been in the West End oi London on New Year’s Eve. War or no war, nearly everyone in London seemed to have decided that the New Year should be given a real welcome, for 1944 was coming in bearing high hopes. Piccadilly Circus was jammed with a noisy, jostling crowd. Groups linked arms and pushed their way forward, many singing, and all making a noise. , , Effect of the Blackout

Disregarding the inconvenience of the blackout, and for the moment forgetting its grim purpose, a visitor to London can at times be enthralled by the beauty thal the absence of lighted streets and buildings may bring. As darkness falls, the gleaming barrage balloons may be seen , affron-colourcd in the dying rays of the sun while beneath buildings and streets merge into a black velvc-t. Trees in the parks form delicate tracings against the fading skv and there is something wondrous in ‘driving through almost empty streets with a full moon shining down on nilent houses, with no window gleam to bo seen* Another word abcut the blackout. Recently, in a London suburb, between dusk and darkness, on one evening, all the -treet lights were turned cn as a brief test. The spectacle startled children six years of age.