Rationing

Everything was on ration but years later my Mother told me that although bread and potatoes were on ration they did allow plenty so we didn't go hungry.
 With rationing all had to register with a shop. One could register with a small corner shop and a larger store such as the Co-op Lipton International Store etc. You also had to register with a Butcher, there was no buying from several places.
 Meat was a problem and to supplement one had Tripe. I detested Tripe it was served with onions. It was commonly known as Tripe and Onions. It was boiled in milk and we had it too regular for me.
 In 1946 my Father returned home from the War. Naturally I didn't recognise him as I had been just 3 when he left. To be honest I never got to know my Father that well. My formative years were bereft of a Father. I wonder what they would do now?
 Mothers never went to work as housework was a job in itself. Until we moved in early 1948 we never had electricity. A battery wireless as it was called in those days was the only entertainment, but we made our own entertainment and to be honest seemed contented.
 The new house was a semi detached with 3 bedrooms so I had a bedroom of my own. It faced north and during the winter months it was freezing cold. Often I would get up and have to scrape the ice from inside the bedroom window to see what the weather was like.
 The couple next door were old, well to me they were old. He was a retired Policeman so I guess he would be about 60+. They were a very nice couple and when he found out I was going to the Boys' Central School he gave me a satchel.  It was about a mile and half to school but we didn't live far away enough to qualify for school dinners. It was not free but subsidised. What I used to do with a friend was take sandwiches and eat them in the local park. Someone of importance must have seen us one day for we were summoned to the Headmasters Office and asked to explain why we were eating at the park. On hearing our story both of us were granted a place at the dinner table. Mind you my Mother saved the dinner she had cooked so that I could eat it at teatime.
 We had a school uniform, it was brown blazer with a brown cap, short grey trousers and a grey jumper. It was a rule that ALL those attending school for the first year had to wear short trousers. I, in fact wore short trousers until the last year not because my Mother forced me, in fact it was the reverse she made me wear long trousers the final year at school.
 Even now some things were still on ration, clothing coupons were a bind for the girls going into the Nursing profession but gradually things began to improve.
 I might digress for the next blog as I had my mate here and I was looking for something and found something else too. More soon.