gb0551ms-33-89

Transcription

[Page] 89
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the station, one of which was given to me. A
bullet went through a window of Sir William
Baird’s house at the commencement of Barnton
Avenue, and lodged in a bedroom wall, while
a woman in the village suffered some slight
damage from a richoché bullet and broken
glass.

[Margin]
Note These were not
our planes. They
went to Dunbar
& there munitions
having given out
the ‘Spitfire’ relin:
:quished the pursuit. ---

The progress of the two planes
was seen down to Willowbrae road
and thence towards the Pentlands where
the German is supposed to have come down.
And so we have had our first air-raid
experience, under circumstances of
particular interest and considerable danger,
and yet I am thankful that I did not
miss the experience, sealed up in my turf
protected shelter. As the battle raged over:
:head the servants were out at the back door
watching! If a bombing attack on
Edinburgh should eventuate later on in
this war, there may be a different story
to tell.
Later. It seems that the German, who nearly
hit our roof, was pursued to Dunbar, when the
chase was abandoned by the pursuit plane as his
amunition was exhausted. The German plane
was wobbling as it made out to sea so possibly

never reached home. It was another ‘plane which
passed Willowbrae Road. Though it was said to
have crashed in the Pentlands - its carcase
not yet been found.

30th Oct.1939
The last few days have been without incident.
The weather has been beautiful with slight frost
at night, and warm sunshine in the middle
of the day. I should mention that one of the
troubles that afflict the just who wander about
after dark, is the difficulty of getting about
on streets and roads that are entirely without
lighting, while the extremely restricted lighting
permitted to motorists makes the motor a great
danger. Over 1000 lives were lost on the roads
in Sept. mostly of pedestrians, as against
about half that number in Sept.1938.
I had not been into town since Monday
so as I wished to see Mr Edwards, the director
of the Museum of Antiquities, I decided to
go today. I was on the point of
starting when suddenly the sirens
began to voice their warbling note. I forth:
:with summoned the staff and Robb the
gardener, one of whose working days is Friday,
and we retired to the shelter. For the first
few minutes I felt myself shivering as if
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