In the provinces life goes on as it oes in London and there are plenty of towns that have never seen a German bomb. For instance at the end of September there had not been one raid on Rugby, in which town are situated the British Thomson Houston Co.'s vast works, the English Electric Co.'s plant and the Lodge Plug factory. which is on government work. In addition there are big railway works in the town which is an important junction on the IMS. Railway.
On Su: days it is still the custom for the whole family to go out for a walk in the beautiful English country side and to finish up at one of those rural i us, where father has his beer mother her stout and the kiddies their lemonades and packets of crisps, The Germans may shower thousands of bombs over England but they will rever jar the ordinary people from their old habits and customs; sure sign that British moral is as strong as it ever was.
Dealing with the food situation my informant told me that he had ple=ty to eat while he had been in England and that the quality of the food was as good as i" pre-war days. In fact, added, English food was much better than the eatables he had been. served with in Shanghai, Prices for food were a little higher, he went on, but nobody grumbled.
The iden of keeping allotments on which millions of English working folk spe. t their leisure hours in peace time growing potatoes, peas, lettuce, cabbage and other garden produce for their homes, has spread like wildfire and today allotments may be seen along railway embankments on former commons and village greens and on large expanses of what formerly were uncultivated fields, Comforts Appreciated Meat, potatoes and bread were plentiful, he stated and there was no shortage of tea or coffee, although precious little of the latter is drunk by the average English family, There was also plenty of warm clothing coming into England for the troops, sailors airmen and for the civilian population, he added.
At this point he showed me a warm green pullover which he wore. This had been knitted by some American lady and had beea sent to England with thousands of other pullovers, scarves, socks and other woollen articles of clothing. And that American lady, had she been able to hear what this seafarer said about, her gift. would have felt more than amply repaid for the time and trouble spent making the article, Shanghai ladies, who are knitting comforts for the men, will be happy to know that their gifts are more than appre-nated by the men who. wear them, Their gratitude is unlimited.
Railway journeys in England these days are not too pleasant, my informant told me, As far as Í remember they never were—to me anyway. He was comi.g into Euston from the north when the air raid siren sounded at Watford, Immediately the train slowed down but proceeded towards Tondon. Looking out of the window he saw a German fighter make a smoke ring in the sky which is a signal to the bombers that a target has been spotted. Usually the bombers aim through the ring, he stated but o: this occasion the only plane to appear was a British, which engaged the German,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.