91热爆

The grown ups also enjoyed the feeling of camaraderie which the shelter brought into our lives. I鈥檓 sure the men in particular enjoyed the construction of it. There was one moment when they鈥檇 only got about a foot down. It had been raining and the digging resembled more a mud bath than anything else. Mr Yarwood who was quite small and I fear not too used to hard labour was laboriously digging into the mud at one part of the hole. He was not too careful with his expletives at times of stress and he burst out with the remark 鈥淚鈥檓 sure this bloody ground gets tougher the further down we get鈥�. He lifted his spade up yet again and gave another mighty stab at the offending mud. Then with a triumphant 鈥淕ot it鈥� his spade went in full depth. Can you imagine the laugh we had when on pulling the spade out, he realized the difficulty had just experienced was because one galosh which should have been protecting his shoe had come off in the mud and his triumph was the success he鈥檇 just had in cutting it in two.

In the meantime Europe was being sorted out from the terrible mess left by the Nazis cud their defeat by the Allies. Germany was a pile of rubble as were the countries surrounding her like France, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Holland, Belgium and many others not to mention Iraq and North Africa and countries around them.
But quite a lot more important that the concrete bricks and mortar was the sorting out of lives, people lives. What had happened to families, were mums dads brothers sisters children still alive and if they were where in Europe were they. What damage had been done to the mental and physical health of each individual who made up the population of Europe, what an awesome task for the agencies, churches and governments of Europe. This situation was made worse by the fact that the same mess appertained round the other side of the world caused by the Japanese. They had inflicted terrible suffering not only on the millions whose house where all around the Pacific but also to the forces from all around the world who came there to defeat them. It came home hard to us in Britain when we realised what they had done to our British prisoners of war.
In Europe slowly but surely records were interrogated and what had happens to people began to emerge. Our family could not have been more involved as we waited anxiously of news of what had happened to Ruth and Lora鈥檚 mother and father. I can鈥檛 remember who we heard of first but in both cases the news was devastating. Ruth鈥檚 mother had died in the Nazi death Camp in Auschwitz and their father had been shot in the street in Poland. It is to Ruth incredible ability to battle through the very worst nightmare that life could throw at her that we must pay homage. It is impossible to imagine what her inner most feelings must have been and now she had adopted a means of coping with it without it destroying her mentally. But she did. Not so Lora. She didn鈥檛 cope and broke down mentally I can鈥檛 remember details but eventually she had to live permanently in a home for mentally ill people. As far as I know she lived and died there. After the dust had settled following the end of the war, it turned out there were some of Ruth鈥檚 family in London, in particular an aunt so that when Ruth passed her 鈥淎鈥� levels (Advanced School Certificate) with flying colours she made the decision to remake contact with her natural family. She accepted a place at London University and although I can鈥檛 be sure but I think she lived with her aunt. Whilst there she met and married Gehard Weiss. He is Jewish so she was then able to settle back to the culture and religion in which she had been brought up.

We have kept in touch during the years. Whilst my Mum and Dad were alive she and Gehard (or Gerry as she calls him) used to invite us for a meal and evening in Manchester whenever they were in the North. They were and are very keen to promote and support Northern Ballet and through them my parents became members. Since my Mum and Dad have passed away we exchanged Christmas Cards and in her last communication Ruth has suggested that we make an effort to meet. Gerry鈥檚 career has been involved in dealing with companies who have got into financing difficulties. He seems to have been successful. Some of his work was in Australia and, as I understand it, they now have a house there as well as a holiday chalet in France. Their primary home is in London. They have no children and Ruth seems to have travelled extensively with Gerry on his business trips.

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