Page 18 - The Spirit of Christmas 1940

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LIFE GOES ON
The cold, dark winter evening once again was upon Church
Street. It was the time that all Londoners dreaded. Night attacks
from the Luftwaffe were a regular occurance but the past few
weeks, the raids had been coming earlier and earlier.

The air raids started back in July of that year, coming mostly
at night when they were harder to spot by the Spitfires and
Hurricanes of the Royal Air Force. But it wasn’t just London
being targeted, the Southern and Eastern coasts were also targets.
In fact, ports all around the British Isles were being targetted.
However, since October, the air raids were not restricted to night
time attacks.

The Station was still fairly busy with the evening trains returning
passengers in and out of the city although many of the traders
were closing for the day. Best to get out of the open before the
nightly raids begin. Although, the underground station provided
protection for people, the traders also needed to protect their trade
stands as best as possible. After all, after the bombs, life had to go
on.

Jimmy had just packed away his news stand and wandered
over to the flower stall. Rose was also packing up for the day.
She tended to stay open as long as possible to try to catch the
commuters on their way home who maybe tempted to buy a bunch

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