"Underneath the terrace in front of our fat there were somè garages, and in one of these were billeted eight soldiers of an English regiment. They told us to come down there during raids. They sandbagged the next-door garage for us so that nothing but a direct hit could have hurt us, and produced chairs for us. They weren't very fussy about making us go behind the sandbags unless the danger was immediate and acute, and be we were able to watch all the aerial battles, some of which were intensely exciting.
"Our fighters were marvellous. We got very worked. up, sometime: and jumped up and down in a mos! dignified way shrieking advice and admonishment to guns and the fighters indiscriminately. The soldiers got very excited, and a good time was had by all.
"We had 74 raids in four weeks, and eventually the sound of the warning siren became more of an annoyance than anything else. It might be anything up to an hour and a half before the all-clear was sounded, and sometimes it seemed such a waste of time.
"We got into the habit of taking whatever work we were engaged upon down to the garage with us, and have knitted, sewn, manicured drunk morning tea, finished lunch and made up our faces there, on different occasions. Our soldiers were a great comfort, and in return for their company and protection we
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