TUMBLING OUT

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20060, 5 October 1939, Page 6

TUMBLING OUT

LONDON EXERCISES j AMAZING EXPERIENCE I i WAR’S CALM ACCEPTANCE! | BALLOONS SITTING ALOFT To-day’s delivery ol air mail from | London brought to many Gisborne ' households news of tourists abroad i whose whereabouts and plans have j been the subject of much speculation I since the outbreak of the war. j The tenor of all the comnumica- j i lions, it seems, is much the same. | Admiration of the calmness with which the people of the Motherland are facing the efforts and hazards o! the war is the keynote, and there ate more anecdotes of the humorous | aspects of life in Britain than there ; are references to personal incon- j vcnience and uncertainty. Tourists from the Dominions are j determined, it seems, not to be outdone in philosophical acceptance of. war and its effects upon the civilian | i population. Their status with the j people of the Homeland has not j suffered by the prompt offers of as- | sistance sent from their respective | Dominions; and old bonds of mutual I interest once again have been tight- ! cnecl and strengthened by the disaster | of war. “X am pleased to report that the I family are all well, and gradually : getting used to tumbling out of bed at ; all hours when the air-raid signals | are sounded,” writes one Gisborneite, : describing something of his observa- : j lions in London. Company in the Basement ! “Fortunately we have a good strong basement in our hotel, and although j i our group may look a funny lot in ' their night attire, we console our- ' selves with the knowledge that there are plenty of others who look worse. There are 1500 bedrooms in the Regent Palace Hotel, where ,we are staying, so you can understand that we have plenty of company in the basement. | “It is an amazing experience to be ] | in London, at the very heart of j things, with a war on. The calmness j of the people is wonderful, as is also j the swift, quiet way people are fitting themselves into the various bi anenes I of organisation, without any fuss or panic. People do not grumble at the : inconvenience caused by Inc nightly j black-outs which oblige them to feci their way about without a light or lamp to guide them. “Measures taken for the protection of the city are marvellous. Special police and air wardens, men and women alike, have been appointed by the thousands, and parties take up their beats day and night. About 3000 taxis have been taken over for auxiliary .fire service, and in all parts of the city one sees them standing with trailers bearing fire-fighting plant.. Balloons Build Up Confidence “We often try to estimate the number of balloons comprising the airbarrage against enemy raiders over London. They are aloft in every direction, as far as the eye can see, and there must be hundreds of them at least. I can assure you that they give a great feeling of comfort and confidence “There are too many strange sights in London’s streets to-day for me to attempt to describe them. Thousands of soldiers in. all shades of khaki, and men in the blues of the air force and navy provide a keynote. Army lorries and dispatch riders dash through the dense streams of traffic; policemen wear tin, helmets; the women’s organisations . are evident everywhere. Aircraft guns, soldiers and balloon parks are in. every open space throughout the city.” j Another viewpoint is presented m i a letter from Mr. W. Barrington Mil- i ler, who describes the cushioned ini- i pact of war upon one who looks j from a window placed high above i .the level of London’s streets. “England has her armour on. Lon- 1 don is a city of sandbags and steel j helmets. Yet, looking from my win- j dow on the top floor of the Junioi I Constitutional Club in Picadilly, one j would never know it,” Mr. Millei | states Their Majesties’ Example “From here, one can see no signs of j preparation for strife. Only the wide , vista of a city at peace on a sunny j September day. The prospect sweeps j from the temporal to the eternal — j from the towers of the Houses ol Parliament —one of them trussed with builders’ scaffolding so that it resembles a Chinese pagoda —to the noble dome of St. Paul’s, and the Byzantine tower of Westminster Cathedral.’ Across the live ramparts of green in the parks shows Buckingham Palace, foursquare and solid as j the realm itself. ! “From its flagstaff droops the Royal | j standard of England, in token .of the j presence of the King. He and the; | Queen have remained here since the j I outbreak of war. Many a homely j; citizen whose duty lies in town feels. |; as he watches the departure of others, j ] that if royalty trusts itself to Lon- , don, London is good enough for him. Our ‘George and Elizabeth’ have set an example in this, as in other things, that will not be forgotten. “From afar off, perhaps from the Life Guards barracks at Knightsbridge, floats a cavalry call. Slowly the Royal Standard fills upon the ( wind. It seems that the lion raises its head to the challenge of the trum- j pet ‘that shall never call retreat.’

“One catches a shining glimpse of the golden angel on the Victoria Memorial, spreading its wings as though to protect a city while it is learning to protect itself. Above all, silver instead of gold, are the balloons of the barrage, gleaming in the sunlight and stretching like sentinels farther than the eye can sec.”