Makes you realise how lucky we are.. must see

http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/UK-News/Blitz-70th-Anniversary-Photo-Reconstructions/Media-Gallery/201009115718316?lpos=UK_News_First_Home_Page_Strap_Teaser_Region_0&lid=GALLERY_15718316_Blitz_70th_Anniversary_Photo_Reconstructions

My mum was telling me yesterday what it was like for her and her brothers and sisters living through the Manchester blitz; she said it was beyond terrifiying (she was ten at the time); particularly the day they got out of the shelter and found the house next to theirs had been bombed. Also going in to school and seeing which kids were missing that she knew she wouldn't see again.

She also said that when her generation has gone it will be forgotten because there will be no one to remember it for them; that would be a very sad thing and it's up to the rest of us to make sure we never forget. x

If my mother and grandmother were to be believed though, it wasn't all bad.... I can remember so many of their stories of being bombed (like the time they were sitting round the fire, a bomb went off, and the blast almost sucked them up the chimney!) being told while they fell about laughing! Now they were either made of different stuff, or it's a great example of black humour... and how human beings manage no matter what the circumstances...

And if Viktor Frankl is to be believe, they even managed a joke in the concentration camps... amazing, the human spirit.

I remember my grandparents always talking about the Blitz with a smile - I think they always said it was a case of difficult times but the sense of community was so much greater than these days. It was scary no doubt, but as Liz said I think it also shows how much people can survive through.

Has anyone seen the Italian film 'It's a Beautiful Life'? A must watch film I think.

Despite stories of humour, certainly needed in time of distress, it is still sobering. There are people that still face this type of destruction today around the world. On a lighter point these pictures are very clever, I note that some of them show the reconstruction still taking place (or at least it looks that way to me).

My mothers experiences of the war gave me a valuable code of ethics when it comes to the realities of life.

She said that no matter what issues you had with your neighbor over the fence or with your spouse, when you heard the Buzby bomb going over, you'd stop and look up and wait for it to stop buzzing....if it stopped over your head, you'd run like hell.

It didn't matter who's child you picked up, if there was one crying or alone, or someone in need, you would grab and hold it tight and get them out of danger.

In the shelters you would share whatever you had with you, blankets, hot tea of sandwiches and hug up together to keep warm.

When it was all over, you could start arguing again...!!