finished their lunch and continued to talk about their lives before the war, as Lizzie started to knit methodically and Diana stared out at the country that rushed by the window. Everywhere looked so different now. Every train station they stopped at was nameless, because the signs had all been taken down to confuse the Jerries if they ever made it on to British soil. At every station there were dozens of people, many in military uniforms, up and down every platform, and as they went through cities, they passed large municipal buildings, each of them now masked with taped windows and surrounded with barbed wire fences and sandbags around entrances piled high in case the Germans ever attacked the towns.
As they chatted away their time together, they were in London before they knew it, and the train conductor informed them they were at their destination. They grabbed their bags and cases as the train came to a screeching full-stop, brakes creaking and hissing steam under the strain. Peering out of the window, Lizzie pointed to a tall, thin man wearing an air force uniform and carrying a clipboard.
‘I bet he’s for us,’ she said, seizing hold of Diana’s arm with nervousness. Then, ‘I wonder if he’s single,’ she whispered into Diana’s ear and they both started to laugh again. ‘Not a lot of choice in Scotland for me – not that that’s the reason I’m here, of course,’ she said with a glint in her eye, and Diana nodded.
‘You’ll do,’ she joked back.
‘Do you have a boyfriend?’ asked Lizzie as they waited their turn to file off the train.
Diana shook her head. ‘Not much time for it,’ she said. ‘And as a hairdresser all my customers are women.’
‘I don’t think we’ll have much chance here, either,’ responded Lizzie with reluctance, ‘with all the men away, and I’m sure the air force will have plenty for us to do.’
As they clambered down onto the station platform, they made their way towards the gentleman with the clipboard and then noticed there were three other girls behind them who must have been further down the train. He nodded to all the young women and called out names. Lizzie and Diana were two of them. Lizzie approached him.
‘Excuse me, Flight Lieutenant Stone,’ she said, as he’d introduced himself. ‘Do you think it would be possible for Diana and me to bunk together at the barracks?’
The officer looked up from his clipboard. ‘I don’t really assign barracks, I just get you there,’ he said with a curt smile.
Lizzie did not seem deterred and persisted. ‘Please, could you put a word in for us? We made friends on the train. I’d love to be close to her.’
He looked from one to the other, and Diana was aware that Lizzie was gripping her arm so tightly she was losing feeling. They must have looked as desperate as a pair of refugees.
He nodded. ‘I’ll see what I can do,’ he said. ‘Friends are important right now for all of us.’
There was a sad tone to his statement and Diana wondered what had happened in his life for him to comment in that way, and all at once she was aware of the seriousness of being a member of the fighting forces.
He led them all outside, and Diana noticed the city was alive with life. Parked outside the station was a canvas-covered troop truck, which the officer ushered them towards. Diana looked down at her tight skirt and high heels and wondered how she would get herself up into the back of a truck. This hadn’t been the best choice. She hadn’t even thought about it.
‘Up you go, girls,’ he said in a jovial manner as he saw Diana look down at her clothes and shoes. ‘I’m afraid Queen Mary was using her carriage today, so we’ve had to make do with this,’ he joked as he made his way to the front of it. All the girls helped hoist Diana into the truck, and they laughed at her predicament. Once they were settled, Flight Lieutenant Stone’s driver started the engine and they rattled away.
As they went through the streets of London, Diana looked out the back of the truck as the tent-like flap waved up and down in the breeze, their backs bouncing against the canvas walls with the smell of petrol leaking up through the floor. Lizzie sat opposite her and smiled and said exactly what Diana was thinking.