A White-Faced Inspector

One night during the Blitz, I decided to go a cinema in Kilburn. I’d seen the film and I was returning home, and although I was living in Golders Green I got a bus to Cricklewood, then I got a trolley bus from Cricklewood to Golders Green.

On the first half of the journey I was using this bus which terminated at Cricklewood Broadway. We drove along from Kilburn through to Cricklewood, and as we reached the terminus at the Crown Pub at Cricklewood, I went to get off- in fact I was the only customer together with the Conductor and the Driver. Anyway, we got off the bus and there was a white-faced Inspector, and he asked us what we thought was a silly question, “have you just come from up there?” (Pointing up the road from which we’d come).

“Where do you think we’ve been?” Replied the Conductor, as it was obvious we had, and he said “well did you see that Land mine up there?” We said “well, no we didn’t see any land mine - otherwise we might have stopped and gone round it!” It turned out that there was a landmine. It had been hanging on a tree on an avenue of trees that we’d just passed on the main road just prior to the Broadway, we’d just driven past it “whoosh” straight past obliviously!

We got away with that one, like we did on many other occasions.

This story was submitted to the People’s War site by Becky Barugh of the BBC Radio Shropshire CSV Action Desk on behalf of Bill Kendall and has been added to the site with his permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions.

See more of Bill's stories:

• Chipolatas and Chips
• Doody
• Given a bit of cheek
• High-Tailed it home
• How it all began
• I was BKFJ434
• ’Let him go and let him tarry’
• In a split second timing
• Oranges and Lemons
• Rotten Bananas
• Waste not, Want not
• It was coming straight for me
• Tiny and Shiny
• Free post
• Time just came and went
• No. 1 London

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