Joan Wyndham (sorry, but you have to read this!)

Oh, mercy. So Joan's boyfriend goes off to war, and his house back in London gets bombed, and he writes to ask Joan if she will please rescue his bed from the ruins and take it to his friend's house, so Joan asks his friend Ralph, who is a stretcher-bearer, to help her out.

Saturday, November 16th

Ralph is lean, dark and wolf-like with filthy clothes, untidy hair and a gap in his teeth. He paints when he is not being a stretcher-bearer.

The soldiers got the huge bed down from the ruins, supervised by a very gallant officer with a cane. On it were the same sheets I was seduced in. We loaded it on to the cart and began the long trek towards the Embankment, both pushing from behind, pretending we were a poor young couple who'd been bombed out with nothing saved except our double bed. It only needed a howling infant perched on top of the mattress, waving a Union Jack, to complete the picture.

Ralph is full of grim anecdotes about his work with the stretcher party. He finds he is beginning to look at everyone from the point of view of whether they'll make a good corpse or not!

Our conversation went something like this:
Me: I think our best bet is to go down Beaufort Street.
R: My God, I could tell you some stories about that Beaufort Street shelter that would make your hair curl!
Me: Or cut down Bramerton Street?
R: If you'd only seen what I saw in Bramerton Street the night of the land-mine!
Me: Or maybe Lawrence Street?
"Christ!" howls Ralph, practically upsetting the bed. "The bodies I saw in the Holy Redeemer Crypt in Lawrence Street!"

We finally reached Rossetti Studios and deposited the bed with the caretaker, then went back to have lunch at the Fulham Road Communal Feeding Centre. Burnt rabbit stew which was mainly potatoes and swedes, but it only cost 9d. Ralph leaned back with half-closed eyes and asked me if I was a good girl - he then suggested that he should teach me to play chess but I declined politely. I am v. suspicious of men who want to teach me chess - or anything else for that matter.

I love her. Love, love, love.