It has been much worse
I know that everyone is now suffering the impact of the global economic crisis and that some people have been hit much harder than others. But it is important to keep a sense of perspective.
I’m currently reading “A History Of Modern Britain” by Andrew Marr (born 1959) which is essentially a review of the last six decades or so since the end of the Second World War. Since I’m now 60, this is more or less coincident with my own life experience.
What has really struck me about the early sections of the book – especially because I was too young to remember the times – was the longevity and impact of rationing in Britain. It started in 1940 and you can read some of the detail here. I think younger British readers and all my American readers will be astonished at the privations experienced by the British at that time.
But it continued long after the end of the war. Fourteen years of food rationing in Britain ended at midnight on 4 July 1954, when restrictions on the sale and purchase of meat and bacon were lifted. The war had been over nine years and I was aged six.
Do you remember rationing? What was it like?
March 7th, 2009 at 5:19 pm
I was 16 when rationing ended.
But by that time I had learned to cook and still tend to cook those meals that were staples and favourites and we ate offal and still do.
We still cannot throw leftovers away. It is ingrained in us – waste not want not.
Because my two great Uncles were poachers, we ate well – game was a staple.
My Aunt’s kept chickens and ducks, my Grandfather grew vegetables and soft fruit and rhubarb and in both front and back garden.. Flowers were grown round the edges. We got a council house when I was 11, we grew vegetables but were not allowed to keep chickens in a Council House Garden.
Because of rationing, well it’s my theory, I still do not have much of a sweet tooth, do not take sugar or tea in coffee, don’t like biscuits much but I love outrageous desserts.
I do not remember anybody starving, we swopped coupons and traded stuff with each other.
The Brits did what they always do – pay lip service – say they stick by the rules and then ‘bend’ not ‘break’ them to suit each other. Yes, we heard about the ‘black market’ and later the ‘black’ economy. I have lived with both.