大象传媒

The new year of 1940 saw the introduction of food rationing beginning with bacon sugar and butter but steadily extended to cover many more items. My father was an avid carnivore happy to dispense with vegetables in preference for meat and when meat went onto ration mom collected on week鈥檚 ration for four of us and showed it to Dad who expressed the view he could manage nicely on that. Informed that his share was only one quarter his facial expression was worthy of a silent horror film actor! Every member of the family was issued with a ration book covering all rationed items, each item listed on a separate page of perforated squares relevant to a given week. Mom registered with the local butcher and grocer who tore out the appropriate squares as the food was served always assuming that the grocer or butcher had the goods available again there was a dash to the shop and the queue became a way of life mostly orderly and good humoured but woe betide anyone deemed to be a queue jumper. Just as war broke out mom acquired a large catering size tin of Cadburys assorted chocolate biscuits and with commendable foresights she hid these away until luxury foods were in short supply when we were allowed one biscuit per week and by this means were able to enjoy a rare treat well into the war. To continue trading in linoleum and carpets dad had to operate a system of dockets, authorised permits to buy a given quantity or value of goods priority being given to those who were rehoused through bombing or to newly weds setting up home. Supplies were reduced and irregular so choice was very limited and matching colour schemes were impossible but both the wholesale and retail outlets kept going right through the war years. It was inevitable that a black market grew up with traders swapping goods between themselves or slipping something from under the counter to a favoured customer. The level of this secretive trading was very limited and nobody admitted to participating but perhaps the majoritity of the population were involved at one time or another. Even on the non commercial front it was always p9ossible to acquire things like pieces of parachute silk with which to make clothing. On the other hand unsavoury characters known as spivs dealt in stolen or illicitly acquired goods everything from cigarettes to canned food, from petrol coupons to whisky all sold in secretive meetings and at extortionate prices. Every pub had it鈥檚 spiv the more blatant of whom ran the risk of being shopped to the police or faced the likelihood of being found beaten up in a dark alley.

This story was submitted to the People's war web site by Liz Goddard on behalf of Mrs Pope who's husband Ray wrote up his war time experiences. She hoped they could be shared and this is one short extract. Mrs Pope understands the site's terms and conditions

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