I left Ceylon in December, we got a train then a ferry to Madras, where i stayed in transit for a month or more. We were there on Christmas day and some of the troops were getting annoyed and eager to get home. The next train took a week to arrive in Bombay, stopping sometimes in the day and sometimes all night. I was seated on a wooden slatted bench which became my bed in the evenings. If you took your boots off you ran the risk of them being stolen, food was brought on board when we stopped and the Indian locals would offer to shave you or sell jewelery and trinkets as souvenirs for loved ones back home. Whilst away post took around 6 months to receive and i was able to send home 2 food parcels, containing tea, a year. And of course there were no phone calls in those days. I stayed in a transit camp in Bombay for 3 or 4 weeks under canvas waiting for a ship home. When we finally got a ship we went through the Suez canal our large ship filled most of the canal with about 10ft to spare either side, from there we went through the Mediterranean this took quite some time approx 4-5 weeks but life on the ship was not to bad.
We disembarked from the ship at Southampton at night and took a train to a transit camp in the middle of the night, this time it was Nissan huts (a war time corrugated iron shelter) it was very cold. After a few days i was sent home on leave, we were some miles outside London and this was our first stop, where we stayed over night in a YMCA hostel near Big Ben. When the clock chimed the whole building shook, so we didn't get much sleep. I took the lunchtime train to my home town.
I was posted to North Weald in Essex, where i met my wife Joan. She was a cook and everyone liked her because she was always so happy although the work was very hard. It was the first time i had been in the airman's mess for about 4 years, it was very different. After a few weeks we started going out together, it was love at first sight. We met in the spring 1946 and married spring 1947. For our wedding day Joan borrowed her wedding dress from a cousin, everything was rationed or on coupons. We took a bus to T0rquay for a week where we had our honey moon. Joan then had to return to the RAF at North Weald to show her marriage certificate before she could get demobed. It took about another month before she came home.
We got a flat with 2 rooms a shared bathroom and a shared kitchen. There were other people there and someone was always using the kitchen so i got a very small electric stove which we put in the fireplace. we also had a gas ring in the bathroom on a rubber pipe, it looked very dangerous. We only used it once or twice. Joan did waitressing in a small hotel on the seafront, she also worked Christmas day and boxing day for lunch. We had very little money my wages were £3.50 (£3.10 shillings) a week, but we were very happy together.
In the autumn 1947 we had the offer of a flat it was such a luxury to have our own front door we paid £1.50 per week (£1.10 shillings). There was no main drainage in Preston so we had a cesspit when it became full we would have to pump it out on to the garden by turning a big wheel , if there was very heavy rain it some times came up in the bath .Man drainage came about the late 50s.
Before Joan died she left a short account of her life in the war , When i left school i went up to London in private service as a sivvy i just got put on a bus and that was that,no parents came with me .At 18 i joined the Air Force for 4 years ,i was pleased when i could go into the RAF , it was a wonderful time .People say fancy saying that , when there was a war on,but we used to all muck in together, have a laugh ,i used to cook for the boys and girls .During the war , first of all i was in London we used to hear the doodlebugs coming over,.We used to walk 3 miles to work early in the morning,starting at 5 am .Then i got moved down to Torquay , which was like a holiday they took over private houses for us to live in and there Americans down there as well, it was a lovely time ,everybody was different , all friendly . This account was given to a helper at Trimar Hospice where Joan spent many happy days ,the care she received there was amazing ,I shall always be grateful for there for the support we received .
Soon after we moved into the flat the landlord died and the new owner wanted to sell ,as sitting tenants we had the chance to buy at low price ,we where able to get a mortgage with the local council at a low rate .Soon after we bought it the people in the ground floor flat moved out so we were able to let it to Naval Officers ,which was good for us as they were paying the mortgage. At that time we did not have main sewer but a pit in the garden which had to be emptied twice a year , it was nearly 10 years before we got main drainage .From time to time I would have to go up the garden and turn the wheel to pump the sewage out ,on to the garden.
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