Mum was always for a good story, and there were plenty of good stories from her childhood.  Such as her 'great escape' as a toddler, crawling on her bottom through the garden gate and being found by a family friend halfway up the main road.  Or getting trapped in the cupboard under the stairs, the family's store for homemade wine - rather drunk on bottle of beetroot by the time she was found.  Wartime was a time of rationing, with mum's family of 4 only allowed 4 eggs per week.  But they never went hungry, even in the week when mum went to collect the eggs, but slipped over on some ice, smashing the lot.  Mum also had a lucky escape when a German aircraft dropped a bomb near her school.  The sirens hadn't sounded and on hearing the explosion the children all dived under their desks.  A piece of shrapnel though landed in her grandma's wash house, the only part of the property to have running water, and where all bathing and laundry was done.