LIFE IN LONDON

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 23970, 21 May 1941, Page 11

LIFE IN LONDON

I THE BRIGHTER. SIDE SPIRIT OF CHEERFULNESS REACTIONS TO BOMBING Proof that London is not all ruin and death, and that some at least of its people can mix cheerful courage with a lively interest in nature and art, is provided by a charming letter which an Auckland friend has received from an elderly literary man living in the vicinity of Regent's Park, who is at present working on an annotated edition of John Evelyn's famous 17th century diarv. The letter is dated in March. "Thank you for your letter," he writes. "Unfortunately it chose to arrive with a renewal of the blitz; nothing very bad, but a bit noisy. In fact, mainly gunfire and a few flares round here; though we heard one or two things in the distance. It's remarkable what one gets used to. Last night Dora and I were thinking we'd have to sleep down below again; the housemaid said her own bed in her own bedroom for her; so Dora and I couldn't let down the family morale, now could we ? Anger and Disgust "We have been seeing a bit of London recently. Two areas in the City have been burned, one large one, one smaller; either old houses or warehouses. Heavy old masonry and good modern construction stand up to a good deal both of high explosives and incendiaries; so that, bad as the damage is, it is not so bad as one might think from the cruder accounts. And as one leaves central London it thins out a good deal. A very few people are terrified by the blitz, and one hears ol poor wretches who spend most of their time in the underground; but most people grin and bear it, with a little elementary mathematics thrown in to show one's chances of getting hit. "What the blitz produces is chiefly anger and disgust. "In fact, spring is becoming visible —a good show of crocuses in the park and the seagulls getting ready to go to their breeding grounds. We think of planting a few vegetables, but only those with skins or roots; the London atmosphere and other incidents make things like lettuce unsuitable. Despite rationing people continue to feed the ducks and geese; we have wild and tufted duck. Survival of London

"At the moment the real problem is the night raider. One hopes each morning after that something will have been brought down the night before; when you hear that it's a dozen you must celebrate, for though that will mean a big raid it will also be the beginning of the end of night raiding. "We are still on our usual jobs; noth ing very exciting. Also Mary and Dora kmt vigorously; another wartime occupation is scouting for food. Not that there's a serious shortage; it's merely getting the various oddments that are now a bit out of the way. So far there's very little hardship -except for the people for whom there always is hardship. Of course the Chinese restaurant has run out of awabi (an imported shellfish), but I suppose one can survive without it. 'T hope that there will still be some of London left for you to see; in fact, unless the Germans get viig? much more efficient, there's likely to be a good deal " =