A visit

I went today to see my mate in Skegness. Going by Butlin's reminded me that the season was almost upon us. Many rides were in use and there were plenty of folks milling around there.
I arrived at my mates easily and went to see his Mum. I mentioned Shove Halfpenny to her. She readily agreed that like me she had heard of the game but like me had never played and didn't know the rules. I told her that like me, she was bought up in a country that was poverty stricken but we didn't realise it at the time. I then reminded her of the wireless. She laughed and told me that we had to take the accumulator to be recharged each week. She told me that she rode an old bike to the shop and as the accumulator was filled with acid she was careful. Not careful enough as she split a little on her skirt. It ruined her skirt and she was given a good hiding. To be honest, almost all of the children in those days had a good hiding from time to time. She then went on to talk of rationing. Everything was rationed but she told me her Father worked on the land and they had a special extra cheese ration. I suppose that was because it was hard working on the land. Everything was labour intensive. She then reminded me that bread, potatoes the staple diet were also rationed. she told me 4oz. margarine and 2oz of butter per person was allocated each week. I then told her my Mother never ate margarine. We, as kids had butter on a Sunday, every other day we had bread and marge, with jam I might add. Mother had butter every day. To be honest, we didn't know any different and the taste was not bad at all. In fact we found no difference between butter and margarine.
I like going to see my mate's Mum and talk of old times. To see her perk up and smile and laugh at some of the things I bring back to her mind. I try to think of different things each time I go. I never stay too long as I know that it is nice to see people but also nice to see them go so I don't stay long and she always thanks me for coming. That's nice. More soon.