大象传媒

I was ten years old when the war started so had memories of pre war times.
My father had 2 acres of mainly orchard which was his hobby. With all the able bodied men being called up, he was unable to find the casual labour which he had used before. So as well as keeping chickens for eggs and eating when they were past laying,he would buy baby goslings in the spring.They would be moved around the garden behind low chicken wire fences in order to eat the grass and weeds.When Christmas approached they would be killed for our dinner and the others sold to his friends.Being a goose we had a large quantity of fat from the cooking which my mother used to eke out the cooking fat ration in things like pastry!!
I was always interested in cooking and remember some of the ways we managed with rationing.Christmas cake had prunes used with the meagre supply of normal dried fruit.Marzipan was made using semolina instead of ground almonds which made it rather hard to eat.we were lucky in having eggs and only had to used the dried variety when they were in short supply.Surplus eggs during the summer were put in ising glass and later used in cooking.I can also remember liquid paraffin being used to make the cooking fat go further but do not know how that affected our innards!!
It was difficult to buy mant good presents and we used to make all manner of things out of odds and ends and also decorations as there were none to purchase.
Compared to 2005 it was of course very dark with no lights allowed except behind the blackout curtains but in spite of all the austerity we made the most of what we had and I certainly always looked forward to the festive season.

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