大象传媒

I was born in London in 1941, and lived on the Isle of Sheppey in Kent at 54 Clyde Street - there were two pubs (Blacksmiths Arms and The Man of Kent) and a fish and chip shop in the street. Ours was a rented terrace house.
We were fed quite well - my mother managed the rations and we had chickens and rabbits in the garden for extra meat. We also collected winkles for Sunday tea, and Dad went fishing for crabs.
We belonged to the 'Co-Op' and every year they had a share out - if we had enough coupons in the ration book we also went to the Red Cross which gave out second hand clothes.
At the bottom of our garden we had an air raid shelter - I can't remember going in it, but I can remember going to London and my Aunt Doris taking me to bomb sites and looking through the fences at the piles of rubble.
One of my jobs at home was to break up salt that came in a block, then it was put into a crock with a lid to keep it dry. I also had to polish my father's shoes, and by the time I was eight I did a lot of the shopping.
Dad used to mend our shoes at home - he had a last and bought leather which he cut with a shape knife - he used brass nails around the edge.
Most of my father's family lived in Sheerness - my Auntie Grace lived with my granny - her husband Norman was killed by the Japanese during the war.
All of the family except my mother smoked!
My granny used to make toffee apples and sell them at the railway station - she had a three wheeler trike with a 'stop me and buy one' sign on it.
We were lucky to live in Kent, where there was fresh fruit available in all seasons.
I can remember feeling cold and we had old army blankets and eiderdowns. It was very cold in the winter and our roof leaked when it rained, so we used to have buckets collecting the water in each corner of the room.
My mother always said we would be better off 'when her ship came in'. I'm afraid it never did! She always worried there would be another war - she had lived through two and that was enough.

Olive Jones, Bridgnorth, Shropshire

漏 Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. Find out how you can use this.