2nd January 1944

Sunday

A brilliant day, quite warm.  Was there ever such weather at mid-winter?  Wish it would break up.  Will there be any real winter at all now?

Everybody very uneasy about the immediate future.  Thankful I don't live on the South Coast.

Lay very late, and spent the afternoon washing and cleaning.  Heard on the news that there had been another terrible raid on Berlin in the early hours today.  Will this never stop?  Watched all day hoping that the weather would break, but the sky remained clear and blue.  Many planes going out and returning.  The big 4-engine bombers go out now without escorts.

At dusk the crescent moon showed brightly, and I was alarmed to see that the beacon had been lit.  Got in a panic, dressed and shaved, and made ready to go out.  Then decided to have tea first, and after began writing, with radio music playing.  Did about 2,000 words of the “Camchester Chronicle”.  Just before midnight the radio faded slightly for a few minutes, but came on again, and I heard a plane come over which sounded like a German.

Switched on to a German station, and kept on writing until 2 a.m., then went to sleep in the armchair, before the dying fire.