I remember visiting my Uncle and Aunt when they were in temporary accommodation here. They were in one of the corrugated iron, tunnel shaped Nissen huts (named after British engineer Peter Nissen 1871-1930) I thought they had the whole hut to themselves, but on entering found it housed 3 or 4 families. There were no inner walls, only strings with old curtains, blankets etc to divide the rooms.
As I remember my Uncle had 2 curtained off areas, one with a small table, 2 chairs, a couple of burners for cooking and there may have been a radio. Their other area had a bed. Sitting there was like being in a hospital bed with the curtains drawn round you, you couldn't see what was going on elsewhere, but you could hear everything they did and said. The whole hut had a damp, musty smell, with an overriding 'aroma' of overcooked cabbage!
Although it seemed awful to me then, I expect having just spent 6yrs fighting his way through Europe, listeneing to the constant sounds of battle and sleeping in a tent if he was lucky, being there with his wife, reading the paper and having a cup of tea was probably a little slice of heaven to him.
I remember visiting my Uncle and Aunt when they were in temporary accommodation here.
ReplyDeleteThey were in one of the corrugated iron, tunnel shaped Nissen huts (named after British engineer Peter Nissen 1871-1930)
I thought they had the whole hut to themselves, but on entering found it housed 3 or 4 families.
There were no inner walls, only strings with old curtains, blankets etc to divide the rooms.
As I remember my Uncle had 2 curtained off areas, one with a small table, 2 chairs, a couple of burners for cooking and there may have been a radio.
Their other area had a bed.
Sitting there was like being in a hospital bed with the curtains drawn round you, you couldn't see what was going on elsewhere, but you could hear everything they did and said. The whole hut had a damp, musty smell, with an overriding 'aroma' of overcooked cabbage!
Although it seemed awful to me then, I expect having just spent 6yrs fighting his way through Europe, listeneing to the constant sounds of battle and sleeping in a tent if he was lucky, being there with his wife, reading the paper and having a cup of tea was probably a little slice of heaven to him.