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Being a wickie  at St.  Catherine's Lighthouse  on the  Isle of Wight  had its  good points,  Benjamin thought. His wife Edith and daughter  Judith  aided  him  in his  work,  so  it  became a family  endeavor. Also the lighthouse  grounds  doubled  as a  meteorological  outstation. During daylight, the  Margolies family sent  hourly  reports of  temperature,  humidity,  cloud height, cloud formation, wind direction, and wind  force to the Meteorological Office  in  London  by  Teletype. This allowed Benjamin the satisfaction of working within his chosen field.

Periodically a small amount of petrol was delivered to power the engine that turned  the  lighthouse shaft. Benjamin was never tempted to divert  a  portion  of this  petrol,  as  he had  no motorcar, but he kept an eye out for neighbors who did.

On weekday mornings Judith  trudged up  from Undercliff  to the village of Niton  for  her primary  school,  and sometimes  her mother accompanied her when she needed to attend to shopping. At sunset on Friday, when it was Shabbat, Benjamin  and his family ceased from all their labors and remained indoors.

On rare occasions Benjamin took his family by ferry  and bus on such modest holidays as they could afford. One time they went to the beautiful Lake District  in the  northwest of  the country, camping in the high, treeless hills called fells that qualified as mountains in England.

The Isle of  Wight  lay  within the  English  Channel, and  the English Channel was  the  chief arena  of  contest between  the United Kingdom and  Germany in  1940. That is not  to say  the Margolies family would have been entirely safe if they had moved closer to the Lake District.

The Luftwaffe had a clear advantage when it came to the quality of their aircraft, but with the new Chain  Home Radio Direction Finding systems providing early warning of  attacks, RAF pilots could rest until scrambled, use less fuel, and put less wear on their own aircraft.

As the Luftwaffe  began to  take  heavy losses  in bombers  and fighter cover  they tried  attacking  some  of the  Chain  Home stations. One was  near  to St. Catherine's Lighthouse. The Margolies family was unharmed but they had their first taste of the War. Towers constructed with an open  lattice structure are practically immune to blasts. The few antennas the Germans did manage to topple were repaired within days while operators from nearby dummy stations  broadcasted  signals to  make the  enemy believe no harm was done at all.