Page 27 - The Spirit of Christmas 1940

The Spirit of Christmas 1940

to add to anyone’s distress. Thankfully, there was also a good
helping of joy around too. There were plenty of families being
reunited for Christmas such as Harry, Mary and Jack. He watched
as the walked happily out of the station. Of course, with the night
time raids it was going to be out of the frying pan and into the fire
unless there were plans to escape the city. He hoped so.

The morning’s trade had been busy for both Jimmy and Rose.
Along with the extra passengers provided by the war, it was still
business as usual. The usual commuters were still coming in
and going out to their normal places of work regardless of the
disruptions caused by the Luftwaffe. It was evident that the
British spirit could not and would not be dented. Even in the
station, business carried on as usual.

Just by the main ticket office was a bustling tea room, Sally’s
Cafe. This was one room that was busy from dawn till dusk.
The proprieter, Sally Crispin was the daughter of the Station
manager. A hard working but somewhat absent minded, cheerful
young woman. She was cursed with being a little accident prone
but always someone you could count on to lift your spirits. Mr
Crispin was happy that Sally was close by at work. It meant that
he knew she was safe and he could keep a fathers eye on her. He
also knew that she was very much her own woman and she was
the one member of staff in the station he couldn’t give orders to.
In fact, it was Sally that wanted to work at the station to keep her
eye on her dad.

She would always make sure that the station staff and workers
on the platforms were plied with tea throughout the day. They
say Great Britain was built on a cup of tea and who was Sally to
argue. SHe walked out of the front of the cafe, she had a cigarette
hanging out of her mouth and was wearing a head scarf tightly
bound over a nest of curlers, all of which hiding her real stunning
beauty, but she wasn’t bothered.

“Oi, Dad, come and get yoer brew, it’s been here 10 minutes
and it’s getting cold.” She yelled at the top of her voice.

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