page 53 — July 1940

Sunday 7^th

A beautifully slack day. A bathe at 10.15, lovely in, but there  was a cold wind and it was raining when we were dressing, which was horrid. zsp zwr

After lunch … Wood and A and I went along to the Point again. We walked about and tried to take photos of ma and pa gull diving at us when we went near their nest. I don’t expect that they’ll work though. Then we were climbing down on the Fistral Bay side when I saw a plane above looking like this:  I said ‘there’s a Hun’, half jokingly, then I said ‘actually I think it is really’. They said ‘Yes, come on, let’s go down’. Then 5 Spitfires shot over the same way, then ‘whumph, whumph’. zar zam

We raced up to see several dots far off and a large cloud of smoke about half a mile past the river Gannel. WIZARD! A Beaufort also came round lower than the cliffs, and a Spitfire. zpp

We won two bob from Mr. Oakley, for catching a special sort of beetle. 8d each. They were six spot burnets with the spots joined up. ztc zwl

[See note]

Tuesday 9^th

… Good news, a non-given up French battle ship badly damaged. Several planes brought down over England. znb zam