The Sun's Never Shone Brighter

I've just enjoyed tea and cake with an elderly neighbour who quietly articulated his childhood memories of life in Nazi Germany and his subsequent escape to England as a Kinder Transport evacuee, his gentle, non-bitter and grateful narrative focusing a searchlight on the magnified difficulties of our coping with 21st century living.

After the infamous attack on a Jewish orphanage in 1939, a handfull of caring people across the world were spurred to action, agitation in England particularly by the Quaker movement, raising funds and persuading the Govenment of the day to decisive action. The logistics of bringing hundreds of children to the UK were quickly put into place, trains and ships eventually bringing 10,000 youngsters to camps in Kent for eventual settlement with families across Britain and eleswhere.

It's very difficult to imagine the pain of a mother parting with her little child on the platform of some smoky station - one woman put her daughter into a carriage three times - fearing that they might not see them ever again. And it's difficult to comprehend how the heirs of Baron Von Richtofen could have strafed the last child-crammed ship as it left harbour in occupied Europe for the haven of Dover.

Despite the calls for international action by the US President and the good intentions of a vacuous conference in France, very few children were welcomed beyond the British shores, the isolationist USA turning a blind eye until the whole world plunged over the edge.

My neighbour? He was eventually reunited with his mother in England. He went to a good school and became a distinguised chemist working for the Courtaulds company. He married, spent two years in Australia and raised his own family in England. He's enjoyed his life - enjoying it still at 80 years of age - and he's proud of his roots and his native language - joining a German language group to keep the true spirit of his culture alive.

It's raining, the price of beer is increasing and Manchester United had a man red carded in the Champions League clash with Real Madrid.

But get real man. The sun's never shone brighter!