大象传媒

I cannot remember the exact date but soon after war started everyone was issued with a gas mask, which came complete with it's cardboard box and string loop so it could be carried over your shoulder. Off to school we would go with our satchels and gasmasks over our shoulders.
When a British Restaurant was opened near our school, I walked each day, in a crocodile,to the Restaurant instead of eating sandwiches as before. One day a friend said I could go home with her for dinner. However her mother soon made it clear that she could'nt feed me. I was very worried as I tried to find the Restaurant from a different route, in case I was too late for dinner. All was well, I got my dinner. I feel sure that if I had brought someone home unexpectedly, my mother would have found enough to feed the guest, but of course we had our own veg. and fruit. Even so, I wonder how the mothers managed to feed their families with such small rations. Children were not finicky eaters so much then, you were just glad to have food on your plate.
When sugar was first rationed, my mother said that if my brother and I did'nt have sugar in our tea, there would be more for cakes and puddings. My brother quickly said he could drink tea without sugar so I felt I could'nt not agree, even though I did'nt enjoy my tea for some time. My mother never bought shop jam, she made her own and if you didn't use your jam ration, you got extra sugar towards making your own. I am sure that rationing did not hit the country people as hard as town people, We had a large garden in which my parents grew vegetables and fruit, in fact we were almost self-sufficient in veg. As well as making jam, my mother preserved fruit in Kilner jars. She also saved the cream from the top of the milk until there was enough to put into a Kilner jar which she then shook until she had a small amount of precious butter.
When the Americans joined the war, I was living in Gloucestershire.Aged about 12 or 13yrs I was out walking with 3 or 4 friends when a small convoy of U.S.trucks came along. I was dared to shout "Got any gum chum". To our amazement, one truck stopped and a soldier got out. I was pushed forward to receive the sweets and gum which he offered. At that time the sweet ration was 2ozs per person a week. Our household therefore had 8ozs of sweets a week. You could only buy milk chocolate,on the rare occasions that it was available, if you had a green(I think) ration book, i.e. an under 5 yrs child. No stuffing yourself with a whole Mars bar, my mother would cut it up into slices.
Our local town had a Carnival and soldiers,scouts, guides etc.marched in the parade. When the U.S. troops marched one year we thought their marching looked very slack compared with the British soldiers. Maybe we were prejudiced.

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