大象传媒

THE THOMSON WAR YEARS - PART 2

Food was strictly rationed during the war and carried on to nearly 1950. One did not see tropical fruit (unless you met a Negro cook living in the family house! ) but people coped in many different ways, bottled fruit was prepared, great-aunt Allie used to eke out the butter ration by combining it with margarine and mashing it with milk into an indescribable pap. Chickens were kept for their eggs, rabbits were popular as a meat dish and there was always somebody who could provide one with a little extra from someone he knew and of course there was a black market. Sweets were also rationed, father used to bring me my ration from his shop, I was never a great sweet consumer and my sweet tin always seemed overflowing and got stickier by the day!

Petrol was also strictly rationed, it was only available to people on essential business, father was able to obtain a modest amount due to his shop and work in the shipyard but there was none to

spare for joy-riding. He had a Morris 10 car throughout the war and he had to keep it going as best he could. Chromium plated bumpers etc. had to be painted black and louvre shields fitted over headlights so that the Germans could not see any movements. I remember that one very cold winter ( they seemed more severe then! ) the cylinder head cracked due to the frost, there was no possibility of buying any new spares and so he had to have it brazed up, just remember also that cars did not have heaters in those days! The Morris had a sliding sunshine roof, very avant garde for those days, which was damaged by falling roof tiles during a blitz and so the roof had to be permanently sealed to slide no more. I can remember while in Curdridge often seeing steam driven lorries obviously taken out of storage to get round the petrol shortage. Of course there was not the volume of cars in those days, public transport was widely used and from my memory was rather reliable, perhaps there was the right kind of snow and no leaves on the line in those days! and there was always the bicycle or shank鈥檚 pony!

Everyone had to obey the blackout curfew, no lights could be shown and often windows had strips of brown sticky paper affixed to prevent flying glass in the event of bomb-blast, I know that even today Marks & Spencer have blast curtaining inside their office windows in Baker Street to mitigate possible damage caused by terrorist attack. Many buildings were either destroyed or damaged during the war, our house in Oak Road had the windows blown in and the roof tiles blown off by bomb-blast, the effect of blast was nearly as severe as a direct hit. The damage to our house was particularly caused by a direct bomb hit to my grandmother鈥檚 and great-aunt鈥檚 houses which were on the next corner along the road from ours, both houses were totally destroyed. Fortunately neither house was occupied at the time, both grandmother and great - aunt were evacuated. Shrapnel from the bombs entered our house, I remember one of mother and father鈥檚 wardrobes was damaged by it and to this day I have a teak garden bench with a clear sign of shrapnel damage.

After the war all the demolished and damaged houses had to be reinstated, this was arranged under the auspices of the War Damage Commission, every claim had to be carefully evaluated, they would allow reinstatement on a 鈥渓ike for like鈥� basis, many were the arguments when people tried to obtain enhancement to their properties! As I have said, eventually our claim was approved, the repair work carried out (although the leaded-light had to replaced later due to rationing of materials)and after some while we were able to return to live in Oak Road. Grandmother and great-aunt had to wait longer for their houses to be totally rebuilt but eventually they also were able to return in 1948.

I do not remember holidays being a priority during the war, father may have had the odd day off but he had the shop to cope with as well as the shipyard and I am sure that nobody went away and as for going abroad well that was where the war was! I do recall being taken to Salisbury by bus and train and seeing the film 鈥淪now White and the Seven Dwarfs鈥� and there was the occasional visit to the 鈥淓mbassy鈥漜inema in Fareham to see a film in the days when one got good value for money with two films and an organ playing in the interval, all for probably 1/9d ( 10p ) ! Sunday afternoons we used to go for walks particularly when we were at Curdridge, often walking to Bishops Waltham or to Durley Mill. I am sure that to my parents, any little outing was a welcome haven from the rigours of war time. There was of course no television or videos, the wireless provided a great source of news and entertainment , Tommy Handley with 鈥淚TMA鈥� being eagerly looked forward to each week and there was always Vera Lynn reminding everyone about the White Cliffs of Dover!

Christmas was muted but as a boy I looked forward to it, there was no such thing as coloured wrapping paper, brown paper if there was anything to wrap! My parents did their very best, there was always a stocking filled with what goodies they could find, I do recall being given 鈥淢eccano鈥� sets, mother told me later that she had to order the next year鈥檚 set a year in advance and probably pay a deposit as well. Turkeys did not seem to have been invented in those days but there was always a chicken and everyone enjoyed the brief respite. I do remember I spent one Christmas in hospital, it was alleged that I had bronchial pneumonia and so my Christmas fare consisted of M&B tablets, whatever they were, there was no public transport and so I had no visitors on Christmas Day but the medical staff did their best to give us a jolly good time, it could have been worse!

All bad things come to an end and albeit slowly after the war, things gradually returned to normal, as a boy I was largely insulated from the effects of the war, I was taken from pillar to post but just accepted it but from an adult point of view it must have awful but everyone seemed to accept it stoically, there was no point in moaning, everyone was in the same boat and one just got on with their lives as best they could.

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