From a child's perspective

On the bombsite of what used to be 4 Ennis Road, some men showed up one day. Since,after the bombing,we had moved into number 8, I suppose I considered the bomb sight my playground, so I investigated. One of the men I spoke to told me that it was his job to mend the wall of number 8 that was damaged by the bomb,and after that to mend some others houses up the road. I thought, HIS JOB! Wow! that meant that he spent all day outdoors mending houses. What a great job,-- outside all day! and I told him that I thought that he had the best job in the world. He smiled, a sad smile, and looked first at the bomb sight then down at his bleeding hands. “No Mate” he said “You don't want this job, there are better ones,” and then he tousled my hair and went back to work.

It took me a few years of growing up to understand what he had told me.

Chris Kitchenham