Sorry for the absent-mindedness but someone brought up the importance of attitude in survival not long ago and I can't remember who it was. I came across the following file, used for a historical post, and it's typical of the humorous attitude used by Brits to get themselves through some terrible times in WWII.

From Tom Harrisson's book, Living Through the Blitz.

"Only 6,000 of the 93,000 Hull homes escaped bomb damage by the end, from three main attacks in March and May [1941] plus many smaller raids favoured by an easy approach across the North Sea. . .

After May, 1941: "'The most spectacular ruins in Hull are along the banks of the river Hull (a small tributary of the Humber)--particularly the east side. Here one sees the still smouldering remains of the tall flour mills and stores. . . Further east the industrial and working-class areas have suffered heavily. The gasworks looks almost untouched, but Hull was without gas for six weeks after the May raids. Whole streets of working-class houses are down. One of the most impressive bomb-holes is on the Holderness Road. There, there is a crater almost 20 yards across, filled with greenish water, in which planks and barrels are floating. By the side of the crater stands the remainder of the Ritz cinema."

Harrisson relates a humourous account of a conversation between a young Hull artisan and his wife, reminiscing in the midst of the devastation. It is probably typical of the attitude of Yorkshire and other Brits under bomb attack:

"He: If it's got your number on it you get it. We've had it three times. Last time the house came down on top of us.

She: All the ceiling and the plaster. It was terrible. We didn't know where we were. And we couldn't strike a light. . . we dursen't.

He: Mr. Nicholls [Air Raid Warden] came round shouting, 'Is there anyone dead in there? Is there anyone dead in there?' I said, 'Let's get back into bed again and 'ave some sleep, we can't be any worse off than what we are.'

She: Then Mr. Nicholls comes and says the house next door's on fire, so we think we'd best get down the shelter.

He: So her ladyship says, if she's going down the shelter we've got to do ourselves up a bit.

She: We were covered in plaster--all in our hair and all over the place.

He: So she combs her hair, and wipes her face on a towel--and when she gets down the shelter she were black as a - - - - - - --all the soot had fallen on the towel. (Loud laughter)

She: And my hair was all in curlers. I put 'em in during raids, so as not to lose 'em. One time they got blown all over the garden. But we found 'em, didn't we? We picked 'em up, every one.

He: And after that we lived for six weeks in one room. We had to have the light on all the time--all the windows was boarded up.

She: And we'd no gas. . . They wouldn't evacuate us. In the end, Tom had to knock the house down himself before they'd find us anywhere else. He pulled great holes in the walls with his hands.

He: It didn't need much pulling. You could put your fist through it.'"

-- Old Git (anon@spamproblems.com), March 01, 1999

Answers

Dear Old Git,

That is a great example! That sounds like a book worth purchasing.

One of the things about Y2K that really bugs me is that people have such outlandish expectations nowadays. If a person is humble and grateful they are much less likely to loot, pillage and rape than somebody that feels that the world owes them a living and that they have been "wronged" by Y2K.

The techincal aspects of survival are easy, the social aspects are horrific.

-- Ken Seger (kenseger@earthlink.net), March 01, 1999.