Life on the Run Read Online Free Page B

the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve. He had always wanted to fly, and was very disappointed not to have had the chance while the war was still on. He became a glider pilot and was very good. I used to go with him to a small airfield at Bray near Maidenhead, and go out on the jeep to bring back the launch cable after it had been dropped from the gliders. He used to do displays and perform some very tricky manoeuvres when he was flying. He never crashed, although I remember one of my jobs was to stick patches on the glider after the outer skin had got torn on occasions. He always promised to take me up, but I was only around twelve years old, and whenever he was going to give me a flight in a two-seater, there was always some ‘top brass’ around, so the promised flight never happened.
    I had been a Wolf Cub since I was eight years old, and had reached the dizzy heights of being a ‘Sixer’. I moved up to the 2 nd Windsor Scouts in 1947 and rapidly became a ‘Patrol Leader’ (mainly because I was taller than most).
    Camping became an important part of my life for the next few years. There was very good camp site in Windsor Great Park, Bears Rail, and many weekends in the summer we would pull our heavily-laden cart, loaded with tents and equipment, from Windsor to Old Windsor and camp for the weekend; a distance of at least three miles. I was lucky to get the opportunity to go to camps further afield with the other scout troops in the town. One of these was to Porlock in Somerset, where we used to go into Minehead and where we could buy baked beans on toast for about a shilling (5p). After camp food it always tasted so good, and I suppose that is why I still enjoy beans on toast today. Another camp took me across the water for the first time to the Isle of Wight.
    Between scout camps, there were occasional trips to the coast as choir outings, and as mentioned before, I had a great liking for ice cream, probably due to being deprived of it during the war, and the Lyons Corner House knickerbocker glories. Our trips were usually to Brighton or Southend, and I remember on one such trip eating something like thirty ices of various sorts during the one day. Maybe this contributed to my health problem later in life.
    In about 1950, the magic of electricity came to our road and we had electric light for the first time, but the tin bath in the kitchen continued for the rest of my time at home.
    I had a very happy childhood, even though we had very few comforts and six of my formative years were in the war. There was no bathroom, an outside loo, no electricity, no central heating and no washing machine or fridge; and a family income of just about £5. My parents must have done a great job of bringing up the family with so little money, because we always had enough to eat and had great Christmases. Our pillowcases that we used to hang up, were always full to overflowing with regular presents, like a toy post office, sweet shop, toys and a stocking filled with whatever small items were available; later fruit and chocolate, but not much of that during the war, unless my half-brother Leslie, who was in the Army, had brought some home. Even our holidays to Tisbury continued throughout the war.
    Christmas was always magic, and when I had my own family, we managed to keep the magic alive for our own children. They would go to bed on Christmas Eve and nothing would be done; there would be no tree, no decorations nor any other sign of Christmas. When they were all asleep, the work would start to transform the house, so that when they woke up, very early next morning, everything was there and ready for them. Frequently we would only get to bed about an hour or two before they were rising. Normally the first thing we did on Christmas morning was to go to church, and then the presents would be distributed on our return.
    By the time I was twelve years old, I was delivering groceries for a long-established family grocer in