OK so that was a slightly childish title. This is in fact the 14th chapter of Moby Dick - Nantucket. Please give it a listen and enjoy the heck out of it.

 

So, I've been busy writing a book - it's really just a transcription of the diary kept by a British Army soldier, who is also my partners grandfather. William Warren was a Sapper (explosives expert) in the British army, and was captured in France in 1941, and held as a POW for nearly 4 years until his eventual release towards the  end of the conflict in June '44. It was a real marathon, 4 months of scribbling and deciphering in my spare time after work, his handwriting is very swirly and neat looking yet hard to decipher. One of the hardest things was the place names, as they were spelled phonetically mostly, and so I had to spend a lot of time trying variations on the spelling until I found the real place on a map. A selection of artefacts were kept inside, such as wartime propaganda leaflets from both sides, each promising a wonderful reception if you were to surrender your arms peacefully.
A small extract from the diary:

19 April. Which was Ray’s birthday, proved to be a most eventful day. The mucker and I were lying in the hay on our bed place just under the window musing on the lousiness of life – in fact everything was as usual. A few Thunderbolts were hovering around, but then they had been doing that most of the day. Suddenly we heard the roar of a plane dive which brought us both to our feet at the window. A plane was diving straight for us – Ray yelled to Harry Huntley who was lying on his overcoat opposite us & who immediately dashed toward us. Suddenly the plane opened up with machine guns and canons – the roof was riddled with bullets – instinctively we crashed to the floor with pieces of roofing tile spattering on our heads and backs. The machine-gunning ceased and was immediately followed by two dull thumps like the banging of a door – they were the light bombs.