大象传媒

This story appears courtesy of and with thanks to The Liverpool Diocesan Care and Repair Association and James Taylor

We had to cope. We got a quarter of butter, two ounces of tea, this for one person, four ounces of meat, two ounces of bacon, you鈥檇 never see an egg. You鈥檇 go to your relations and they lent you a ration book. If they had gangs of kids they鈥檇 say 鈥淕o and use mine.鈥� Everyone helped one another. But we weren鈥檛 hungry. As for potatoes, you鈥檇 have to go and queue up and I think they鈥檇 had them in a hundred years, little weenie ollies we got! But if you were at the end of the queue you didn鈥檛 get any! We鈥檙e none the worse for it. Even bread, you queued up for bread, if you didn鈥檛 get there while they were giving the bread out 鈥︹��.
I used to go at 8 o鈥檆lock in the morning to a place on Wavertree Road, a German shop, and he used to always sell sausages. I think we got two ounces of cheese, on the rations. I don鈥檛 think it was enough but you had to make it do. You鈥檇 never see a banana, you鈥檇 never see an orange or an apple, but we鈥檙e none the worse for it.
With my husband being away during VE Day, I only had the kids and never bothered to celebrate. We had a little party in street for the children, but we didn鈥檛 have the food to give them. We were all mucking in then, you know, bits of this and bits of that from people鈥檚 houses to make the party up.
The rationing lasted for about twelve months, I should think. But when the rations finished you couldn鈥檛 get the stuff. It wasn鈥檛鈥� in the shops to give you. If you had a good shopkeeper, you got a back hander, he鈥檇 say 鈥淥h, I鈥檝e got such a thing in.鈥� I used to go to a certain butchers and he used to say to me 鈥淕ot a bit of liver here.鈥� And he鈥檇 wrap it up for you. That wasn鈥檛 on the rations, liver or heart, but we survived didn鈥檛 we, we never went hungry that鈥檚 one thing. There was things that you would have liked but it was just enough to keep you going, you went to neighbours to get their ration books, and when your husband come home on leave, you鈥檇 take his ration book to the butchers and he鈥檇 give you some extra.

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