16th May 1941

Three short alarms tonight, after three lovely peaceful nights. Had a letter from Mother today, in which she says that [her brother-in-law] Bob Cleveland’s house at Ipswich has been demolished by a bomb a week or more ago, but he is quite unhurt. It seems hard to believe. A good deal of my childhood was spent in that house.

The London Blitz which began in September 1940 came to an end on 16 May 1941, as Hitler reassigned the Luftwaffe's bombing missions to support his campaign against the Soviet Union. The air raids that EJR mentions in this entry, therefore, may have been the last of the London Blitz, although indiscriminate air attacks were to continue against British cities throughout the rest of the war.

Poulter came back from the club this evening with an extraordinary story that 5 Germans had escaped from a camp near “Bury St Edmunds”, and the Colchester police were on the lookout. Also an even more incredible story about a German spy being in Colchester last week. I don't believe either of them. For one thing, there is no German camp near Bury or anywhere else in East Anglia.

When at the Mill tonight I met little Miss Grimsey, who rather shook me by saying that from her house opposite the pond she heard last night all that I was saying to Dolly. As the next house to Miss Grimsey is that of Inspector Olyot, this makes me rather thoughtful. There must be some curious acoustic trick over the pond.

A little warmer.

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