It's dark! Not the scary type, the Stephen King type but dark nevertheless. Stygian is the word.

I know I'm safe. I'm warm and being fed on a regular basis. Dress code leaves something to be desired and the decor is not great.....but I digress.

Not far from where I am is one of the largest tank factories in Europe. Barn Bow. Three dimensional camoflage so good that, unless you know better, from a hundred yards you'd never know it was there. Jerry didn't know either apparently. He knew of it's existence but not it's exact location. He'd try for it every now and again but there was nothing close that was worth the expression "justifiable collateral damage." Of course by now the Battle of Britain was over. Goering had changed his tactics from attempting to destroy the Royal Air Force either on the ground or in the air to the bombing of strategic targets and the indiscriminate bombing of civilians with an eye to a quick capitulation. The beginning of the "blitz!"

Leeds was/is at the apex of an industrial triangle, in the North of England, formed by Huddersfield, Bradford and, of course, Leeds. A triangle brought about by effervescent soft water and a proliferation of sheep. To the North the incredible Yorkshire Dales. To the East the rich Vale of York. To the West the purple moors. The Pennines, that barrier of old. A physical line between the red and the white. The Roses of Lancashire and Yorkshire.

Leeds became a wealthy city. Heavy engineering, light manufacturing, clothing and textiles.

In the 19th century one of the larger mills was owned by a Mr. Brotherton. The son of the founder but with a much broader world view. A view that encompassed bettering the lot of his employees. When he passed away his will stated that a new wing to the Leeds General Hospital was to be endowed by his estate. The Brotherton Wing ! An imposing Victorian building not too far from the site of Barn Bow. Of course in those days Barn Bow didn't exist and flying was a thing of the future.

I still can't see because of the darkness. Sounds are muffled and I'm soaking wet.

Jerry has just raided Liverpool to the North and West. Heinkel bombers in all probability as they had the range for a quick visit although not the payload of the Junkers 88. The docks were a tempting target being on the West coast. One of the main points of ingress for the needs of war originating in the US of A.

One of these bombers is mortally hit by anti aircraft fire and is limping home but losing altitude at an alarming rate. He never made his bombing run on the Liverpool docks and chose to jettison his bomb load.

The Brotherton Wing took a direct hit at the Eastern end of the building. Ironically the end that housed the rehab services tending to wounded servicemen.

Today births quite often are chemically induced. For sixty seven years it has been my opinion that nothing induces a birth better than a 250 pound bomb detonating 300 feet from your bed!

I still can't see but sounds are no longer muffled. I'm naked as a jay bird and still wet. Somebody whacks me on the bum......a portent of what's to come? I have no teeth but my hair is dark. I'm wrapped in something warm. Feed me I'm hungry....at least the decor has improved!

It's October 12th 1941. Welcome to the world Peter. The beginning of the road to now.