Diary of Edward Lloyd Fleming, January- September 1945 - Part 7










out. A large crowd at Stranraer, so I got the slow train
- in which I’m now writing. ‘Ye Gods’ the parting
was hard! Betty was going back with Nellie. The train
trip wasn't too bad but very cold even in daylight. We
arrived at Kentish Town about 1200 & I got a U/ground
to Euston where I had a bath & shave & then set forth to
eat but food just wasn’t so I had to go without. I
went to Kodak House to see about my job but they
told me nothing doing for Wed, & advised me to see
Capt E.U. Allen of Q.U.A.N.T.A.S about the civil aviation.
Went round to B.O.A.C. but he was out so I rang thru'
to the Willis' to see if it would be O.K to come down. They
agreed & I got the first available train. In the mail
was a parcel from home and some newspapers but no
letter from Mum or Margaret & also I discovered I’ve
left my pyjamas at Portrush!!! We went for a very
enjoyable walk to meet Dr Willis & I also met a Mrs
Herbert & we had tea together then Betty printed my
”dull” 35 m.m film for me to see if we could find
where the trouble lay. We nattered for a while then
turned in. They all seem well very & Betty Willis
has taken up music as a career. Mrs Willis gave me
some very interesting dope on book-writing too.
8.8.45 (Wed). Betty called me at 0730 & I dressed
& nipped smartly into town and just arrived at Airways
House as Capt Allen was coming out so I got on the bus to
the Strand with him & he told me a/. University degrees in
science are now required for aircrew & in econ. & comm.
for ground duties b/. that terrific expantion is en
visaged & the demand will be greater than the supply.
c/. that the knowledge I have of flying will be invaluable.
d/. that the degrees will be useful in retired life. I left him
at Aerial House & headed for Edgware Rd., to pick up
my shoes but the shop is closed till the 11th so I went to
the camera folk. They seemed to think the light was getting
thru the window so we blacked it out more. Caught
the bus to Oxford Circus & went thru the Airplane
exhibition very thoroughly then had dinner at Kensington
restaurant. Returned to Kodak House to report progress
& they had nothing new to report give me so I went to the Boom-
erang Club and met Frank Dimmock there. Came home
shortly after. A bod called Dr Reggie Ruell came
in the evening, a real bumptious pommy but very
brainy & harmless enough. We had some very nice
gramo records.9 8.8.45 (Thurs). I had a bath & shave & then breakfast
& Betty washed my clothes for me while I helped
Mrs. Willis shake some apples of a tree & cut them up
for preserving. Met Sir Arthur Keith & then I did some
reading before dinner. In the afternoon we printed some
films and then went for a nice walk thru Luxted &
round Biggin Hill airdrome & watched the Dakotas come
in. Had tea and spent the evening writing & reading up
in my room.
9.8.45 (Fri). JAPAN SURRENDERS.
Dr Willis drove us in to town after breakfast and the
run thru the suburbs was most interesting. I called
for mail after seeing Drs rooms & they have a beautiful
outlook over a park. Betty, Mrs Willis & I set out for
Charing X Rd. to do some shopping of books in &
spent most of our time in Foyles & I bought 9 books.
We returned to the National Gallery where Betty bought
tickets for the midday concert while Mrs Willis & I
bought the lunch which we all ate on the steps of the
Gallery overlooking Trafalgar Sq. It was a beautiful
sunny day and the two piano playing at the concert
was bang on. When it had finished we were looking
at some paintings when I noticed the news on a
bloke's paper. Betty nipped out and bought another &
sure enough the war was over. We walked up
Haymarket to Lyons Corner House & had a drink
after watching the crowd in Piccadilly a little while.
They were throwing blokes in the air, servicemen & cops
& standing all over the Eros statue. Buses were
stopped & one crowd was besieging every taxi that
passed. After our drink Betty & I went to Piccadilly
again & now they had a "crocodile" going and
were dancing. Someone slung up a toilet roll
& it undid beautifully. We saw two big-breasted
trollops who figured rather prominently
later. We walked down Whitehall to Downing
street but apart from service chiefs, there was
little to be seen altho a fairly large crowd was
waiting for Attlee to appear. So we returned
to the Haymarket & these two trolls had
been hoisted on to shoulders minus their
sweaters & that was all the clothes they had
on top! They were taken into a shop presently
where they dressed & altho they made out they
were annoyed they lost no time in getting
back to Piccadilly & swaggering their hips &
bosoms all the way. By this time horse-police had
come & the crowd dispersed. We went up some of
the back streets & saw the Yanks & trolls in
action & the sly grog too. Met Dr & Mrs Willis at
Charing X Lyons Corner House and had a beaut
tea then got a taxi to the Albert Hall. We "promenaded" -
ie. had to stand or sit in the pit & hear
Sir Arthur Bolt conduct some Beethoven
works - Egmont overture, Eroica Symph & more
concerts - he was brilliant. Took the taxi back to
Sardinia Street & saw more crowds at Buckingham
Palace & they were singing on the steps of
Nelsons Pillar in Trafalgar Sq. The parklands were
full of people, so beautiful was the night, and
Boadicea's statue looked A1 beside a finger nail
moon. We waited a while for Mrs Hurbert then drove
home. London streets were littered with paper &
streamers but up near Kingsway it was deserted
tonight. They celebrated here with some Dutch grog
& after supper we all got off to bed. I wrote a little
first. "The world Turned upside Down."
10.8.45 (Sat) Up early & off to town with only a couple of bits
of bread inside me but I went first to Charing X and then
to Trafalgar Sq. I took snaps of Admiralty Arch and also
walked up the mall to Buckingham Palace to Boadicea's
statue. Walked back along Piccadilly to the circus & wandered
along Shaftsbury Ave back to Charing X Rd. where I
caught a bus to Kodak house & got my first letter from
home for 6 weeks! I continued on to Blackfriars Bridge &
walked along the embankment, eventually getting up into
the little back bombed streets between the river & Fleet Street.
Went thru newspaper land & had lunch then went up to
St. Pauls. Made down to Pauls Wharf & then to the U/ground &
got a train to Marble Arch. Then I went To Regents Park to see
the zoo. The walk from the tube thru the Park was very beautiful
and I spent a most interesting time at the zoo. Saw the birds
plenty of kookaburras & budgies & dingoes & wallabies. It is
quite a big place On the way back I took a photo of a pavement
artist but it was off the film. Took the train to
Charing X & then came out home straight. We had
a beautiful tea and Betty & I went for a walk in the
direction of Orpington then developed my film. I read
a bit before turning in. Was amused at the baby
monkey looking for ticks on its father & eating what
it found and also the chim baboon which splashed
the onlookers with his water. Another monkey had a
mirror & couldn't quite fathom it.
11.8.45 (Sun) We were up latish and Betty and I
printed my films but they were done on the wrong
paper so results were not particularly satisfactory.
We then went for a walk over the golf links & sat near
Biggin Hill Airfield & nattered for an hour or so then
returned & I packed. I said goodbye to Betty first as
she had to play for S.S. and then I took leave of Dr. &
Mrs Willis & caught the bus to Nth Bromley. I'd missed
the train so went to Nth Bromley. I'd missed
the train so went to Sth Bromley & got to London
just in time to catch the 1705 north. It was terribly
crowded & I had to stand all the way. Even the
lavatories were occupied by about 4 bods in each.
At Retford I got a bus which took me to Elkesley & I
got a good bed. Lost little time in turning in.
12.8.45 (Mon) After breakfast I went to Despatch Flt
in high hopes of getting away today but no joy &
a bit of trouble over rail warrants but I think all
will be well tomorrow. I went to the luggage store to
fix my stuff & found John Coffey there. He'd been
to Morpeth etc & we had a long yarn together. He's
off to get a job at Leeds or Bradford. I went to
dinner & then put the braid on my old N.C.O jacket
& at 1545 started to hitch into town with a parcel
for John & one for home & my best blue pants which
I'd dropped in some white paint. Posted the parcels
& also got my uniform cleaned & pressed at very
short notice by Clarks of Retford. No one would sew
up my kit pack so I started to walk back when a
R.A.F. Ambulance gave me a lift to the corner & a station
truck back to camp. I collected my sweet ration
and spent the evening packing & organizing things
& writing. Turned in quite early.
13.8.45 (Tues). I got up at the usual time, had breakfast &
a shower & then packed & took my best blues to the
luggage-store then collected my leave pass, signed out & hitched
into Retford on a G.P.O. van & a ordinary car then caught
the train to Sheffield. I had a long time to wait and so
caught a tram to Millhouses thru some very pretty suburbs &
Millhouses itself was very beautiful with a good type of house
& plenty of tree. I walked thru' some woods to Bents
Green and saw a big school on modern lines at
High Stores Road. I walked to Endfield Gdns. presented to
the city in 1887 & they were looking very beautiful. Then I
caught the tram to the Botanical Gdns which I walked
thru & then got an inner circle bus to the LMS station
& saw a lot of the industrial districts that way. I
went to a theatre & saw "None But the Lonely Heart"
& it was very good. Had tea prior to that at the usual
café and then caught the 2040 train. Had quite a
good trip but a lot of O.R.'s filled the 1 st compartment.
14.8.45 (Wed) VJ - OFFICIAL DECLARATION OF PEACE
We were woken near Stranraer & told the news. I
got the boat & the trip was perfectly smooth & we arrived
home early. Rang Mrs Knox and then caught the
train to Belfast & had quite an interesting yarn
with the fellow passengers (Yanks). At the LMS NCC
station I had a bath & shave & caught the Portrush
train. Met Betty & the girls at the house and Portrush
was exceedingly gay with bands marching
about & banners & fancy dress. A fancy dress
parade took place at 1500 and a huge, happy
crowd assembled on Ramore to see it. After it the
people just wandered around & then after tea at
2000 we went to Ramore to see the bonfire & rockets.
The naval boats shot of some traces & rockets etc &
the fire was very big & bright & a huge crowd was
there. We had supper & went to the Palladium & even
after the dance the crowds were still roaming around
singing & dancing. Hit the hay about 0230.
15.8.45 (Thurs) Was up in fairly good time & after breakfast
just waited about for Betty. We went for a stroll down along
the Strand to the dunes & I just sat on the sand in beautiful
sunshine & nattered. We came in to dinner & got straight away
out again & yarned. We sunbathed but didn't swim &
came in to tea after which we watched the Lambeggers & there
were 4 of them. We went to go to the pictures but there was
a full house so called it off & instead came back & read
then went out to supper & the Epilogue. A bod. was
drowned off the East Strand today. We had "supper" at the
Majestic after waiting x an hour & getting a really stinking
sausage! Came in & nattered for a while then got off to
bed.
16.8.45 (Fri). Caught the 0900 to Belfast & made my
way slowly to Employment Exchange where I saw
Mr Latimer again but he was against the clerical job
so I gave up the idea as it would have taken too long
to get working. I looked around town for a while &
then caught the 1310 back to Coleraine. I called at the
C.C. there for harvesting & was directed to a Mrs
Stewart of the Ministry of Agriculture in the Courthouse.
I start work in the fields on Monday at
£3.3.0 a week from 0800 - 1800 & till 1230 on
Sat. Caught the bus back & messed about till tea
time. Betty & I went to see "The Life & Death of Col.
Blimp" in the evening & it was an enjoyable &
interesting, colour film. Came back & had supper &
I had a bit of a yarn with Joan Moffat's parents who
are charming folk, then I turned in.
17.8.45. (Sat) I spent the morning writing letters &
Betty came in about 1230 for dinner. She had a bath
first thing in the afternoon and then we went out to
sell flags. It was a difficult job & I had to do plenty of
sales talk but we ended up by extracting £2.13.0½
from the public's pocket. Joan beat us by a halfpenny!
We had tea after I'd been talking to a chap
who considered flag days all wrong & started to tell
me why (he was tight). And in the evening Betty,
Joan & I went to the Palladium. It was very full
but my dancing is improving lots & at the beginning
of each dance we'd get a good run. Came home to
supper & to bed.
18.8.45. (Sun) I was up for breakfast and then waited for
Betty. We sat in the lounge a while then went for a
long walk to the White rocks discussing the creation &
religion generally. We were late back for dinner, then in
the afternoon we went out along the sand-dunes & I
had the papers & we didn't say much. After tea we went to
the Trocadero & listened to the music and came home
intending to go to the Epilogue but changed our minds.
Betty cut my lunch for tomorrow & Miss Knox got my
breakfast ready then we hit the hay.
29.8.45. (Mon) I was awake but Ellen called me at 0645 &
I washed, ate & got ready for my day on the land. I waited
at the station for the truck and met another lad. At
Coleraine we answered our names and Mr Stewart
came up & told me he had a job nearer Portrush for one
bod. I was diffident but he promised to ring me
during the morning, meantime I returned home here.
The crowd of workers certainly looked mighty rough &
I felt a bit of a gig in my nice new denims! I
spent the morning reading, waiting for the phone &
when it did come, it was to direct me to a Mr Baldwin
"gentleman farmer"!!! who lives nearby. I had lunch
and stuck photos in in the afternoon. After tea Betty
and I went to see "Whistling in Brooklyn" which
was a hilarious show and I got a pain laughing
at one stage where Red Skelton put on goggles & false
teeth. Support was also good. We came back to
supper and then got up a few more hours in the
drawing room and then turned in.
20.8.45 (Tues). Woke feeling crook & after breakfast I
wrote a little then got outside. I went for a walk to the
Whiterocks and it was like battling against a gale
going & the sand was flying hard & high. Coming back
was a whole lot easier. I read & slept all dinner time
and then started to embroider a picture of King William
I bought at the corner shop. Still felt rotten at tea but
had a bath & after Betty had been to the doctor, we
went along to the Palladium. There were very few
there to start with & we had the floor to ourselves. We
came back, Betty had some supper and then we got
off to bed.
212.8.45. (Wed). Didn't feel too bright today and spent the
morning writing & reading. Collected my film - only
8 results. After dinner Betty was off for the afternoon
so we went out on the sand-dunes & sunbathed
but cloud came up so we gave it away & came home.
After tea I lay in the girls' room awhile while Betty
read to me then I got into my room next &
we read etc, I turned in about 2300, still feeling
sick & feverish. Betty brought me a little supper
during the night.
23.8.45 (Thurs). Got up about 1000 feeling very crook & I
spent the morning reading & writing & only went out to post
a letter. I only had a scratch at dinner then Betty went
back to work and I read or played the piano all the
afternoon. It was cold & windy outside & I was very
cold in the drawing room. We yarned up there after tea
till 1940 then I decided to turn in. Betty came & sat
by the nest & I was terribly hot in it so she took away
some of the clothes. Jack & Bill McCartney made a
lot of noise when they came in & generally speaking,
the night was unsuccessful.
24.8.45 (Friday). I felt a bit better in the morning
but didn't have any breakfast and sat in the
drawing room. Went up the street to phone Betty during
the morning & felt terrible. Stayed in-doors all the
afternoon & actually tackled some tea. Betty organized
a visit to Dr Sheen & he told me I have Jaundice
& gave me some medicine. He has spent some time in
Aussie & knew Dr Jonah in Lester Hse. We came home
I was feeling chronic & got straight to bed.
25.8.45 (Sat) Seemed to be a lot worse in the morning &
after a first effort at getting up, I lay on top of my nest the
rest of the morning and when Betty came in, she made
the bed & I spent the afternoon in it in a rather exhausted
state & we got the wireless working. Had nothing to
eat all day again & Betty has been a great scout to me.
We listened to the wireless at night and then I turned in
& for a change, got a very good night's rest. Oh that
I could be home in my old nest upstairs now!
256.8.45. (Sun). Woke feeling right on top of the
world but that elation passed off before long &
I was quite sick for a time. I had a bath & shave etc
then came back to bed & just listened to the radio. Betty
stayed with me getting anything I wanted being
very cheerful & I got better & better during the day
& at 5 o'clock tackled a poached egg. Oh mum,
I could have done with one of you're poached eggs.
It was very enjoyable & I've been having quite a bit
of grapefruit & glucose too. Was in great spirits till
about 2030 when my exuberance rather had to
pay heavily & for the rest of the night I felt very
sick. Mrs Knox came out to have a little yarn
& Betty stayed with me till about 2130 when
I turned in . .
267.8.45 (Mon) Was crook all morning & missed
out on all meals again. Tried some toast for
tea then went down to see Dr. Shien. 6 women
went in front of me & another bludged in
& I was sick when talking to him. He wanted
to know what sort of attention I was getting &
suggested I should go to the hospital. I asked for
a diet and he fixed me up & I decided to try it
for a day or so first. Had quite a job getting home
as I was very weak & then hit the hay. Grapes
in Portrush are costing 8/6 a lb. and Ellen is
terribly annoying in her efforts to please. She
suggests a whole d-mental & asks after I say
"nil", "Are you well now Mr Fleming?" And
the stupid wench piles bed clothing on top of me
& I am sure would have me suffocate. Betty is
still a wizard kid to have round & tidied the room
while I was out tonight.
28.8.45 (Tues) Another full day in bed but feeling
quite a lot better. Betty fixed me up for breakfast and
at dinner time they brought out a fish from the
house which was very nice. I got up about 1800 &
shaved and went to the doctor. I felt rotten there &
altho he discovered an improvement. I was very
pleased to get to bed & Betty, who was also there, spent
the night with me till 2300.
29.8.45. (Wed). I have a terribly disagreeable nature
I'm sure. My behaviour towards Betty has been piggish
& is rather reminiscent of the way I behaved with
John on our Scotland trip. I never thought it would
manifest itself with a girl. I keep avoiding her glance, being
grumpy & argumentive. My trouble is that all good
resolutions formed in her absence go by the wind
when shes here yet there couldn't be anyone so kind &
attentive to me. The day passed ordinarily & for a change
I read a lot which I've felt unlike doing before. I was
very tired at night & Betty read a little to me then I
turned in.
30.8.45 (Thurs). Just spent an ordinary morning in
bed and had a beautiful dinner there. I got up c
1130 & cleaned up a bit then went to the Post Office.
It was very tiring. I played the piano a bit & got back
to bed at 1630. Margaret came out for a jug & as I'd
locked the door, I decided to hand it thru the window
& put it, half full of water, on the bed & upset the
whole lot I just read a bit at night & Betty
tidied the room & made my bed. Mr & Mrs Knox
had come out to see me & it was very nice of them.
Betty read me a couple of sloppy, cheap stories
and then I got set for the night & turned in.
31.8.45 (Fri) Even before I'd had breakfast, a
telegram saying leave was not extended & to
return as soon as possible was brought me.
I sat up most of the morning & wrote a bit. I
did some embroidery then slept for a while. Ellen came
out & lit the fire, which put me in a towering rage
which I vented all day on poor old Betty. I spent the
afternoon reading & the evening being niggly.311.9.45. (Sat) I got up for breakfast but lay on
my bed most of the morning and read a little. In
the afternoon, after dinner, Betty & I went out on
to the sand dunes for an hour or so but I'd had
it by the time we got back & turned in. Had tea in
bed and read a lot & Betty went to the pictures.
I made my nest & turned in. There was an aircraft
carrier offshore a bit today & I believe it came in
very close at night.
2.9.45 ( Sun). Once again I was up early and Betty &
I spent the latter part of the morning sunning on Ranier
Hd. I didn't feel well enough to go to church. In the
afternoon we went out to the sandhills & Betty
sun-bathed but as the sun was a bit much
for me, I just sat in the shade nearby & read. All
the yachts went out to the Skerries and looked very
pretty. We came back leisurely to tea and in the
evening Betty did a whole lot of my embroidery &
washed & pressed it. We stayed up till about 2250
waiting for Mrs Knox to come but she
came as I was drowzing
3.9.45 (Mon) Nella, Betty & I were all up at
0730 so to catch the 0900 to Belfast because Betty had
an appointment with Dr. Holme re her tumour, Nella
was to meet her Bill & I wanted to try to get a trip
by air to Hendon. The trip to Belfast was pretty
wicked & crowded. We went to E.Q but the only chance
was cancellations & so we called on Bill Cross.
Then I went to E.Q. to see if any starters had
failed to arrive but all were on form so we took
my stuff to the station and went to dinner at the
Carlton - xtra good. Then the girls went to the
specialist & I to the station & back to the bookshop
where they were making a film called "Back in
Ireland" & a yank had to come out of the shop
reading "In Praise of Ulster" & the manager came
out & had a word with him. Quite amusing. Went
back to city Hall & met the girls & left Nella to her own
devices while Betty & I sat for a while by the War
Memorial & then went to café. At 1700 we made
our way to the station & I got the 1720 for home.
I apologized as best I could for my cronic behavior
& the parting was most platonic but I still
felt the same pang as the train pulled out. I had a
worry at Havre not knowing whether I'd get on
the boat or not but bludged in when 50 xtra
places were released & thereby got on the civvys
Boat the “P.Margaret." A very smooth trip over &
Ellen's chicken sandwiches were A1. Service
personnel were the first off at Stranraer & I got a
seat but some 3rd class people filled the compartment.
4.9.45 (Tues) Had a pretty good night & slept a lot.
We had to get out at Kentish Town again. The
country there Derbyshire was beautiful in the
extreme, I caught the Uground to Kings X but could
not get a bed so went to Kodak house where I
picked up a huge wad of mail and my pay too.
I caught a bus to Edgeware Rd. & went to the shoe
place to pick up those I left so long ago but they
didn't have a clue so I left in absolute disgust
Went to Kings X (where they were selling beautiful
apples) & caught the 1600 northbound train. Got a
good seat & I read my mail & papers on the
run up. Had 1½ hrs to wait for the bus at
Retford so went to the Café and then waited in the
Street. Put up the night in the late arrived huts.
Still, was I tired!!! Met Pete Cooney & Arthur Thorne.
5.9.45 (Wed). Up in good time & after shaving &
breakfast I went to accommodation & got a bed &
reported to despatch flt. I'm not on draft & they
didn't want me until Friday. So I got my bags out
of store & came back to the hut to wait for the stuff.
Apart from going to lunch & tea I spent the rest of
the day in the hut re-packing and mending my
kit-bag. In the evening I wrote a bit then turned
in - very, very cold. Saw Ken Butler in the mess.
6.9.45 (Thurs) Went up to breakfast & had a
shower & pottered round in the hut all the
morning. I took my shoes to town at 1230 &
had dinner in their too. Then started walking
out but a R.A.F. van driven by an
Aussie F/L picked me up & brought me in
the back way. He didn't look behind as we
turned off the main road & a big army truck
who was swinging out to overtake had
a terrific job avoiding an accident. I thought
our time had come. Waited for allowances in
the afternoon but didn't get 'em so I settled my
mess bill of ₤15.9. Had dinner and then
came back to the hut & wrote till it came on
dark then turned in because ours & the 4 adjacent
huts are without light tonight.
7.9.45 (Fri). We were woken very early by the
fellas on draft going out, then I had breakfast &
collected my allowances amounting to ₤10.9.0. I
went over to hear what dispatch flt. had to say

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