When the war ended

Hey Dad! Why is that man coming down the road with a long pole over his shoulder? Oh, he’s stopped at the street lamp across the road from our house and now he’s sticking his pole up through the glass box on the top and … Wow, now the light’s come on! That’s the first time I’ve seen that light come on, ever. Is that because the war’s just finished Dad, and we don’t have to have black-out any more? Gosh, I’ll be able to go out and play at night now won’t I – me and my friends will be able to use the lamp base as a wicket just like we used to in the daytime, but we’ll be flood-lit from now on. That will be fun!

Hey Mum! Look at all those sweets and chocolate bars in that shop window. Did you ever see so many sweets? Can I have my pocket money now instead of Saturday, then I can go in here and buy myself some … What do you mean, they’re still rationed?! Can I have my coupons as well then? Crikey, what do you want to use them for sugar and all that stuff for? Sweets would be lots more fun than that sort of thing. Ah, come on Mum, please! Please, please, please!

Mum! Wait for me, I can’t find my way home without you!

Hey Sis! What’s that you have in that little bag? Nylons! What are they? Where did you get them anyway, I’ve never seen anything like that in the shops? What d’you mean, an American soldier gave them to you – why did he do that? What do you do with nylons? Oh, I see they’re sort of girl’s socks, but longer and thinner. Won’t they get holes in them if they’re that thin – I don’t think I’d want to wear anything like that, I’d get in a great mess trying to climb through hedges or play football with things like that on! You girls really are strange!

Hey Dave! Let’s go round the back lanes and see if there’s still some shrapnel lying about. I know there haven’t been any air raids for a couple of years now, but you never know what we might find. Reggie, down the road told me yesterday that he found a nose-cone just outside his back gate last week. He showed it to me and it was super! I wish I could find something like that. I bet you could sell a nose cone to a collector for a lot of money – it might even be worth a pound or more. Let’s go down here and see what we can find.

Hey Mr Davies! Now that the war is over, does that mean we don’t need to bring our gas masks to school every day anymore? Mine’s not much cop now anyway. I left it outside one night a couple of months ago when it was raining and all the rubber is sort of perishing now. Good job I didn’t have to use it!

Hey Mr Postman! Why do you call here twice a day? It’s lovely to get our post so quick, but most of it could wait until tomorrow, surely. Dad says you doing this costs us an extra penny or more on every letter and that’s a lot of money – nearly a quarter of my pocket money!

Hey Mr Johnson! I love watching you pour the milk into those nice clean bottles, with that ladle thing you hang on the side of the big churn. And how do you manage to get the cardboard top on the bottle so quickly, without spilling any milk? Your thumb must be very sore by the end of the day! Gee, you must be a very clever man – do you go and get the milk from the cow, before you bring it to our front door. It tastes so good too, all creamy!

Hey Dad! What’s that big wooden box you’ve brought home? The one with a sort of small glass window in the front? And why does it have a wire coming out of the back? Does it plug in to the electric for some reason? It’s a television! What’s that? What, do you mean it’s like radio, but with pictures as well? Gosh, I can’t wait to see that!

Hey Mum! Aren’t there a lot of exciting things happening, now that the war is over! Do you think there’ll be any other things going on in the future. I can’t imagine what could happen that would be better than all this stuff that’s going on now! I should think that everything that can happen has happened by now!

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