I lived in London through the height of the IRA bombing campaigns in the 70s and 80s so I’ve had my bags searched, had to evacuate stores and tube stations under police orders, and I even knew someone who was killed by a bomb the IRA planted outside Harrod’s so I have a vague idea what it’s like to be stressed about more than being late for work or what to have for tea in the evening. It’s a cliche but you really do just go on with living your life and not worry about it.

But I still can’t imagine what it was like in London during The Blitz, how do you go on living your life in those circumstances? My mother was only five when the Germans started bombing the city and she lost friends and nearly got killed herself when the windows of their house blew in from the force of a bomb landing up the street. I don’t know if they still do this but after the war they kept the air raid sirens in London for use in flood warnings and every now and then they would test them which would give my mum the willies when that eerie whine filled the air. I can only imagine the sights that were going through her mind when she heard that noise.

But my generation got sick of our parents and grandparents always banging on about The War, we had it drilled into us from an early age that they had it tough and how we lucky kids (“Presents? We only used to get an orange for Christmas!”) should be eternally grateful for everything we got. Then there’d be some WWII anniversary to commemorate and they’d trot out “the forces sweetheart” Vera bloody Lynn to sing her Blitz hits “We’ll Meet Again” and “White Cliffs of Dover” for the millionth time and everyone would happily remember the last time England actually mattered. But I’m old enough now to look back on 1940 and think, my God, how close the country came to actually losing and what a miraculous effort it was to stop that happening. It gives me the willies just thinking about it. I’m also old enough to realize that Vera Lynn woman actually had rather a lovely voice, strong and clear as an English church bell, and now it’s hard for me to hear this without getting a little lump in my throat — written at a time when the possibility that we might lose everything we cherished was very real.

Download: White Cliffs of Dover – Vera Lynn (mp3)