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Elizabeth Henderson's Blog - Memories of an Unremarkable Woman

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« A Breathing Space Start Almost a Woman »
Beat the War
When I look back what I remember most is the things we didn't have more than the drama of wartime life.

No television. We must have been one of the first families to have a television on approval before the war. Father loved any new gadget that came onto the market and he hired a set with a screen the size of a large envelope. I remember being entranced with the black and white cartoons of Felix the Cat but had to wait until after the war to see it again.

Frozen food. Nobody I knew even had a fridge but then, of course, we didn't need to keep food fresh as most things were consumed as they were bought. Not much use for refridgerating one egg a week. We all kept any precious tins of food for a special occasion. Some kept a tin of salmon to celebrate a soldier's homecoming, or the end of the war. If there was a wedding all family and friends contributed to making a cake. Some managed a cup of sugar or a few raisins

We had no such things as plastic bags or rolls of tin foil, sandwiches were kept fresh with damp tea towels. Sandwiches were made from Marmite or homemade jam. We were allowed extra jam in the summer and went foraging for blackberries and elderberries. Sometimes shops sold jam making fruit when it was overripe, that was a great help.

Cinemas were beginning to reopen. If there was an air raid while you were watching you were given the option of staying to the end of the film or leaving for a shelter. In Sydenham there was a small cinema called the Neighbourhood where they showed classics and foreign films. I was allowed to go occasionally as, I think, Father thought of them as educational! I remember seeing was Charles Boyer in Mayerling and falling deeply in love with him. So much for education.

There were very few books designed for children and most libraries were short of any kind of reading material. No DVDs or computers. There were comics but I was only allowed the Children's Newspaper - very worthy and interesting but boring in appearance as it just looked like a daily. It was edited by Arther Mee of encyclopedia fame.

Not much on radio either. Even ITMA could be interrupted if there was an air raid. We did have Workers Playtime broadcast from different factories and we all looked forward to Forces Favourites - records played for the armed forces by Cliff Michelmore from abroad and his wife Jean, as choices from relatives in this country. Of course we had the pleasure of hearing the National Anthems of all the Allies played before the nine o'clock news every night.
This entry was posted on December 11, 2010 at 12:00 am.
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