Wednesday
‘Planes going out before light,
very slowly, low over the town, due east.
War news is bad. Up early, fine
and warmer, wind moved to N.W. No hot
water in the hotel, as the boiler has gone wrong.
Spent busy morning in the
Library, trying to find out what is really there, looked through several recent
volumes of the “Cohoisem”, and noticed portrait of Collingwood Roddam, an
officer of the East India Company, wondered if he is any relation to the Roddam
of Colchester?
Old Edwards came in again, and we
discussed the possibility of having a special map show in the Spring.
Rain began about 5, and I decided
to do a cinema tonight. The suddenly,
just before 7, - sirens. Felt too dulled
with misery to be really surprised. Waited until the
wailing died away, and then got up slowly and deliberately and went out, just
in time to hear the familiar roar and banging to the south, and then saw the
wretched flickering light of the thing, dashing through the rain, heading S.W.
it seemed. In about 5 minutes there
was a distant heavy explosion, and then the sound of another diver, or maybe
more, much further off and quite invisible.
After a time there was yet another explosion. Turned to walk slowly back, and the ‘all-clear’
came in about 20 minutes.
Last year at the height of the
diver attacks, somebody wrote quite an amusing article on them called “So They
Follow You Around, Too?” and that is how I feel now. To think that in the summer I used to long to
get to Sudbury ,
to get clear of the diver zone, and then, after that night in September, turned
my thoughts to Bury, only to learn they sometimes went over there as well. That left Cambridge ,
which I thought must be clear, and as
for Wisbech, had I given it a thought then, I should have regarded it almost as
safe as Scotland . Now, no more peaceful nights, but everything
as at Boxted, or Dedham , or Lawford, or Colchester . Always
listening, always waiting for that first upward wail. Am convinced that this will be the worst year
as we have had so far, and that the population will suffer as never before,
even in 1940. These attempts on Manchester are only experimental, and I am sure that by
February there will be regular attacks on all the big Midland centres, Birmingham , Manchester ,
Sheffield, perhaps Liverpool even, and that
divers will harass the whole of the country between those cities and the East
Coast. One can only hope that Edinburgh will be spared, but there will be little chance
of this if Glasgow
is attacked.
Children’s Party at the Town Hall
tonight, and as I got back saw cars and taxis drawing up to the lighted
doorway. No effort was made to
“black-out” while the alarm was on. Wondered
what the Wisbech people will think of this development.
Suddenly decided to go to the
cinema after all, as it would be unlikely that there would be another attack
before the moon rose. Went, and saw
Charles Laughton in “The Canterville Ghost”, as silly a show as I have ever
seen. He should be ashamed to appear in
such a thing.
Bed at 11, bombers going out
again, stars shining and the moon rising.
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