大象传媒

Peggy always loved quality clothes and shoes all her life and during the war as a stylish young woman resented the fact that good clothing was difficult to obtain, most garments bearing the "Utility" label and restrictions on not having pleats in a skirt and other irritations to contend with. If you could get a parachute at least you could have silk underwear, if you were lucky. Otherwise the maxim was "make do and mend". She like many others worked in a war factory, earning good wages but of course there was very little to spend it on at that time.

One day Peggy and two of her friends surreptitiously heard of a shop in the Edgware Road that sold high-class ladies clothes (non-utility) without ration coupons and no questions asked. Being young and foolish they decided to try their luck at this establishment and they actually went there several times, buying quite a number of garments. Then the police raided the shop and closed it down as it was no more than an outlet for the black market. For a while Peggy and her friends were on tenterhooks, hoping that the whole business would be forgotten but they got found out, how I do not know, and were summoned to give witness evidence in the ensuing court case against the shop. Peggy never really spoke much about it to me but it must have been a very chastening experience for her to have to stand up in court and give evidence. I get the impression that she and her friends were given a jolly good telling off and left the court with very red faces. So it was back to Utility and "make do and mend" from then on.

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