大象传媒

To continue ths "Saga"
There were no holidays away for us in the first part of the war, in fact I think the trend only began when I was about 9 or 10. The authorities decided to encourage us all to stay at home hence the "Holidays at home" scheme. During the school holidays the local authorities presumably encouraged by the government, organised various events. In our case there were all sorts of activities in the local park which was not far from our home. Talent shows, conjurers various acts, and in the evening there was always dancing. Looking back I think we were easily pleased, but as we were doing without a lot in other areas it seemed ok then. As it happens the weather was fine as there was no shelter. Our only other outings were days out on the train,(always very crowded, in out of date carriages 6 seater and no corridor. A long journey meant hasty toilet arrangements before the start or a quick trip at intermediate stations risking a missed train. ( train usually to New Brighton, Southport or the dread place Blackpool.)It was lucky the train took less than a 1/2 hour Going by train meant crossing Liverpool. We had heard of the destruction but the reality was a shock, buildings torn apart,great holes everywhere, shops missing whole sections and floors if lucky enough not to have gone altogether. There waer piles of scaffolding and rubble, familiar places unrecognisable, the points of reference having gone.( And the city had hardly changed as I became a student there in 1949. Near the Victoria monument if one peered through the palings one could see down half a dozen layers of the old city on the edge of the deep hole.)
There are no pictures of this part of my life. We did not own a camera until much later. Nowadays I will not move without one. There were other sorts of entertainment. Someone was always organising a parade in aid of something, when you had VAD's or Ambulance brigade or a section of the Territorial army to raise money, which was in short supply everywhere. but this was a small part of the day.
Evening recreation for a lot of families would often be the making of rugs. As everything was in short supply rationed or both, Peg rug making was quite an industry; some people even made money at it. The first consideration was to have enough material to use in the making,Then you would need some old sacks, washed, and an old clothes peg. (later you might be able to fashion a hook out of some wire or redundant spoon or something.
The material came from one of the weekly jumble sales ; some old wool coats, in different colours not too light, which were carefully unpicked with the judicious use of a razor blade(safety of course) Mostly it was adult work here. Then the cloth was cut into strips about 1" wide (2.5 Cm?) then into lengths of about 6"(15cm) long. These strips were then threaded through the sacking with the aid of a sharpened clothespeg, or hook if you had managed to aquire such a thing. You could sketch out a design on the sacks which would perhaps have to be stitched togather should a large rug be needed. It was fun at first, but palled after a time , there is only a limited pleasure you can get out of this activity. But one usually persevered as the rug was probably needed to replace a worn one.
Jumble sales were an eyeopener. On one occasion I happened to be watching a large lady with a large family. She asked a question of one of the servers who had to turn away to find the answer .The large lady produced a large bag from under her coat the children gathered round and almost cleared the table of saleable goods into the bag, before disappearing out of the door.
Rarely were there new toys. Christmas was the time of asking round for the second hand, or persuading a gifted workmate or friend to fashion something out of scrap. I lost my tricycle in one of these exchanges, it was too small for any of us by this time. And we still play with a set of "9's" dominoes that were made by a friend of my Dad's, who happened to be a joiner with some spare wood. My brother had a crane made by a workmate of Dad's, very heavy and only stable when it was weighted at the back. There was a vogue for making hideous flower arrangements from jam tins.
Food was a problem all the war, and of course later . There were frequent shortages of all kinds of food, bread was on ration from time to time, though not like meat, butter margarine sweets and so on,which were always only bought with a ration book. Clothing was also on coupons. Even mending wool was doctored so it would not be used for knitting it was sold in hanks (instead of small balls )which were cut at one end to give small lengths. The predominant colours were khakhi, navy and airforce blue. The trade in blackmarket ration books was prevelant amongst those who could afford it. It reputedly cost 拢5 for a book, present day value I am not sure of but in the 1980's it was said to be 拢300, must be much more now .
Would be interesting to find out.

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