No Time For Romance

by Lucilla Andrews

  That morning I walked back up the hill smiling foolishly over one of the large boxes of chocolates presented by his parents to all his nurses. Vee greeted the chocolates with unsurprised pleasure. ‘Mummy’s sick gentlemen always give us sweeties,’ she informed John, who was down to help with the domestic crisis. ‘Mummy’s sick ladies sometimes give us flowers and me toys, but the sick gentlemen just always give us sweeties. Please can I have one?’

  John reminded her she had yet to have breakfast. ‘Don’t worry, Uncle. I can eat sweeties and breakfast. I can eat everything.’

  This was true. One of the advantages of a lack of parental ability to afford food fads was the way these had no chance to develop in their children.

  I was too tired and pleased about the boy to remember my usual ‘Any post?’ until the afternoon.

  Vee ambled off to collect from mother’s bedroom the letter that had come for me in the first post. She returned with it inside the box of chocolates. John told her she should have been born a few centuries earlier. ‘Vee, honey, you could’ve given the Danes tips on Danegeld.’ He noticed my agent’s name on the envelope I had opened. ‘More news of Vol. 1?’

  I shook my head and in speechless wonder handed him the letter. Good Housekeeping, not the magazine I had in mind when writing my first short story, had bought it for 25 guineas.

  It was my last night before nights’ off. Previously I had decided to reach a decision about our future after tomorrow night’s sleep. For two years Mother had willingly baby-watched on my working nights, she loved London, and it had already been decided she should move in, if only temporarily, with Betty and John. Walking down the hill that night my mind made itself up. I asked the private floor day Sister to stand-in for me for an extra fifteen minutes and the Matron for an immediate interview. I showed Matron (and later the Night Superintendent, Night Sister, and half the night staff) my agent’s letter, and asked to be released from my job at the end of October.

  No nurse could have had a more sympathetic and helpful Matron. ‘Will you be able to sell more stories to magazines?’

  ‘What I can do once, I can do again, Matron. Even if this is only beginner’s luck, presumably I can learn how to write for magazines much as I learnt how to nurse.’

  ‘That sounds logical.’ She smiled. ‘I rather think this time we will lose you.’ She made some calculations. ‘With your nights off, your last night on duty will be 29th October. But don’t forget. If you ever want to return to nursing, come and see me. Where will you be living when you leave us? London?’

  ‘That I’ve not settled, Matron. May I let you know?’

  ‘Of course. And, congratulations, Staff Nurse and – very good luck!’

  Next morning I rang the number of a sixteenth-century house in Smallhythe, Kent. ‘Ann, when you and the Doc left St Leonards you both said if ever I was really in a spot to let you know. I’m in one now.’ I explained briefly, then added, ‘With the Good Housekeeping money and what I’ll have over from next month’s pay, I should have thirty-five quid. I’ve got to rewrite The Print Petticoat before I send it up. That’ll take about two months if I’m not working.’

  Ann, as her father, never wasted words in essential moments. ‘You and Vee must stay with us whilst you rewrite it.’

  ‘Ann, God bless you, but shouldn’t you talk to the Doc about this first? Or rather, I think I should, and as he can’t hear me over the ’phone, could Vee and I come out for the day some time in the next four weeks?’

  ‘Aren’t you on nights off?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Then what’, demanded Ann, ‘are you both doing tomorrow?’

  Glossary

  ack-ack

  anti-aircraft gun/fire

  AIF

  Australian Imperial Force

  A.P.C.s

  Aspirin, Phenacetin, Caffeine tablets

  A.R.P.

  Air Raid Precautions

  A.R.R.C.

  Award of the Royal Red Cross

  ATS

  Auxiliary Territorial Service

  BBC

  British Broadcasting Corporation

  BEF

  British Expeditionary Force

  BRCS

  British Red Cross Society

  C.M.B.

  Central Midwives Board

  Cpl

  Corporal

  C.P.O.

  Chief Petty Officer

  civvy street

  civilian life

  D.F.C.

  Distinguished Flying Cross

  D.I.L.

  Dangerously Ill List

  EMS

  Emergency Medical Service(s)

  ETC

  Eastern Telegraph Company

  F.R.C.S.

  Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons

  Gnr

  Gunner

  G.O.C.

  General Officer in Command

  G.P.

  General Practitioner

  H.M.S.

  His Majesty’s Ship

  Ike

  General Dwight D. Eisenhower

  I.T.M.A.

  It‘s That Man Again (BBC radio programme)

  K.R.R.s

  King’s Rules and Regulations

  M. and B.

  May and Baker (tablets)

  M.O.

  Medical Officer

  M.O.Q.

  Married Officers Quarters

  multip.

  Multipara (More than one pregnancy)

  N.

  Nurse

  N.C.O.

  Non-Commissioned Officer

  non-coms

  non-combatants

  N.D.K.

  No Diagnosis Known

  N.Y.D.

  Not Yet Diagnosed

  O.B.E.

  Order of the British Empire

  O.R.s

  Other Ranks

  P.A.D.

  Passive Air Defence

  P & O

  Penninsular and Oriental (Steamship Co.)

  pro

  probationer (student) nurse

  Pte

  Private

  P.T.S.

  Preliminary Training-School

  QAs

  Queen Alexandra’s Imperial Military Nursing Service

  Q-ship

  Armed British merchant ship in First World War; camouflaged as unarmed until attacked

  RAMC

  Royal Army Medical Corps

  R.A.P.

  Resident Assistant Physician

  R.A.S.

  Resident Assistant Surgeon

  RASC

  Royal Army Service Corps

  RN

  Royal Navy

  RNR

  Royal Navy Reserve

  RNVR

  Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve

  R.S.M.

  Regimental Sergeant-Major

  R.T.O.

  Railway Transport Officer

  S.C.M.

  State Certified Midwife

  Sgt

  Sergeant

  S.I.L.

  Seriously Ill List

  S.R.N.

  State Registered Nurse

  STH

  St. Thomas’s Hospital, London SE1

  STs

  Sanitary Towels

  Tpr

  Trooper

  u/s

  Unserviceable

  V1

  Vergeltungswaffe Eins (Revenge Weapon No. 1)

  V2

  Vergeltungswaffe Zwei (Revenge Weapon No. 2)

  VAD

  Voluntary Aid Detachment

  V.E.

  Victory in Europe

  V.J.

  Victory in Japan

  WAAF

  Women’s Auxiliary Air Force

  WRNS

  Women’s Royal Naval Service

  WVS

  Women’s Voluntary Service(s)

  The debris of St. Thomas’s Hospital, London, the morning after receiving a direct hit during the Blitz, in front of the Houses of P
arliament and Big Ben.

  A patient surveys the damage to St. Thomas’s Hospital after an air raid.

  A little boy with a black eye sitting up in his hospital bed at St. Thomas’s and sucking his thumb.

  One of the women’s wards evacuated from St. Thomas’s at a temporary hospital near Godalming, Surrey, in 1941.

  27th June 1945: Patients on the terrace of St. Thomas’s Hospital have a fine view of Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament across the river.

  V.E. Day.

  About the Author

  Lucilla Andrews was born in Suez, the daughter of an English father and a Spanish mother. She went to school in England and wrote her first (unpublished) novel at the age of eleven. During the Second World War she trained as a nurse at St Thomas’s Hospital in London.

  Lucilla Andrews later became one of Britain’s leading romantic novelists, and many of her books draw upon her own experiences of her medical background. Lucilla Andrews lived in Edinburgh during the later part of her life, and she died there in 2006, aged 86. No Time For Romance is her vivid real-life account of her wartime nursing experiences.

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  NO TIME FOR ROMANCE

  A CORGI BOOK : 9780552164818

  Version 1.0 Epub ISBN 9781446488164

  First published in Great Britain

  in 1997 by Harrap & Co. Ltd

  Corgi edition published 1978

  Corgi edition reissued 1988

  Corgi edition reissued 2007

  Corgi edition reissued 2010

  Copyright © Lucilla Andrews 1977

  Picture acknowledgements The photos come from the original paperback edition of No Time For Romance except for the following: Flying bombs [by radio from Stockholm and HU 6326] and damage to St Thomas’s, 1940, [Albert Ward 70378, view through doorway 85054]: all Imperial War Museum; view of damage and Big Ben, 9 September 1940: Getty Images. St Thomas’s hospital interiors: all Imperial War Museum; little boy in hospital, 1940: Getty Images. Temporary St Thomas’s, Godalming and St Thomas's terrace: both Getty Images; VE Day celebrations: both © Hulton-Deutsch Collection/Corbis.

  Lucilla Andrews has asserted her right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work.

  This book is a work of non-fiction based on the life, experiences and recollections of the author. In some limited cases names of people, places, dates, sequences or the detail of events have been changed solely to protect the privacy of others. The author has stated to the publishers that, except in such minor respects not affecting the substantial accuracy of the work, the contents of this book are true.

  This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorized distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.

  A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

  Addresses for Random House Group Ltd companies outside the UK can be found at: www.randomhouse.co.uk The Random House Group Ltd Reg. No. 954009

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