It is tough NOW. So how are we coping

Puddleglum

Primrose wrote: »

jc2703's comment about the lady with the unusual outfit in the supermarket reminded me of an outfit my mother nade either during or shortly after the war when clothing was still on coupons. She'd acquired an old pair of cotton curtains from somewhere and being very clever with her sewing machine, she made herself a summer skirt and matching jacket from them. I recall this material being laid out, with a paper pattern on the floor, for many hours as she tried to figure out how best to arrange the pattern in different ways to skirt around the various damaged bits of material.

I had to smile here. Just before reading this post I was considering starting work on my new summer frock.

It is a curtain which I grabbed out of the recycling bin a couple of years ago. Beautiful material with large purple/mauve flowers on. It is long and there is just the one curtain. I have not been able to find a suitable door or window to hang it at and if it doesn't work as a dress then hey - nothing lost except a bit of time making it!:D

mama67

charlies-aunt wrote: »

Its big thick un taplady - its certainly building up my arm muscles when I read it in bed on a night Hope you enjoy reading it too.My library copy has some wonderful blacd and white photos too - really fascinating. I did notice that the people in the photos do look quite thin compared with modern times.

Looks like we're heading for austerity again if David Cameron gets his way.....:cool:

Who is the author or could you give me the ISBN, as when I did a search I got 3 different ones came up.

TIA

BitterAndTwisted

Primrose wrote: »

jc2703's comment about the lady with the unusual outfit in the supermarket reminded me of an outfit my mother made either during or shortly after the war when clothing was still on coupons. She'd acquired an old pair of cotton curtains from somewhere and being very clever with her sewing machine, she made herself a summer skirt and matching jacket from them. I recall this material being laid out, with a paper pattern on the floor, for many hours as she tried to figure out how best to arrange the pattern in different ways to skirt around the various damaged bits of material. It turned out to be a very serviceable outfit which served in her wardrobe for many years. I also remember less affectionally the scratchy woollen swiming costumes she knitted for my bother and myself out of various hand knitten woollen jumpers which had been unravelled. Somehow I have a photo of my brother and myself on a beach wearing them them immediately after the war - we look like two beggar children from the slums !

Oh Primrose your post brought back so many memories from my childhood in the late 50s. My mother was a keen knitter from necessity and when I was about 5 or 6 years old made me a rather striking outfit of knitted skirt, jumper and matching knickers in a sort of Fair-Isle pattern. I absolutely and categorically refused to wear the knickers after the first wear because the damned wool was so scratchy. I know that when we were tiny we either swam naked (VERY disapproved of back then but my Mum was German and tinies/nudity not such a big deal to them) or in our undies. I seem to remember getting my first proper swimming-cossie when I was about 5 or so and it was one of those puffy things with threaded elastic in so it could stretch and stretch. Which it did: I think I must have worn it for years.

Family legend has it that when my Mum was a child in war-time Germany (she was born in 1929) a local building of some sort had been bombed by the British and she and her brother took part in looting it. She came home with a rather fetching pair of curtains which my Oma made into a dress or dresses. Every single person in the village recognised the pattern and knew where the fabric had come from.

The children in her village were all sent out onto the train-lines after dark to loot coal which had fallen from the wagons. Adults would have been shot but I think they must have turned a blind eye to the kids or they were just lucky.

Not far away from where they lived on the Baltic coast there had been a battle against the Russians and apparently their corpses were stripped by the local civilians. Army greatcoats were ironed outdoors to kill the lice in the seams before they could be put to use safely.

All that just about still in living memory, sort-of. It hardly seems credible, does it?

Primrose

BitterAndTwisted (which you most certainly don't seem to be!). These memories are so fascinating because they all make up part of what we are and also show us how the world has changed over the years. Often the changes happen so slowly that we don't notice them at the time, but when we look back over a lifetime, they seem huge. I sometimes wonder if the world might one day be forced to go back to living permanently like this when population growth has got out of control, the oil has run out, there is not enough food for everybody and people are forced to grab whatever they can simply to survive.

Right now I feel that we have become one of the most greedy generations on earth. When I read in the press about millions of people fighting to get the latest new I-pad device (or whatever it is) produced in China and Chinese employees at the factory are committing suicide on an almost daily basis because they are being driven so hard to keep the production lines running at maximum speed to meet demand, I feel sad that people are not stopping to reflect what we have all become, and how as human beings we are demeaning ourselves.

Rant over. Must now go out to plant out some lettuce seedlings. Being out in the garden with nature helps to ground me and keep me sane.

lilac_lady

You're right Primrose. Like you I find great comfort in my garden. It certainly brings us down to earth. (no pun intended!)

taplady

mama67 wrote: »

Who is the author or could you give me the ISBN, as when I did a search I got 3 different ones came up.

TIA

I think it is David Kynaston.(correct me someone if I'm wrong;))

Primrose

taplady - yes the author of Austerity Britain is David Kynaston. I enjoyed reading it so much last year that I've reordered it again from my local library. It contained so much fascinating read that I found myself gallopping through it so a second more leisurely read is bound to throw up things I barely took in last time.

Optimisticpair

Making clothes from old curtains reminded me of a tale I heard a long while back....

A lady needed a long posh frock for a do and being skint/frugal bought curtain material.

To her horror she got there and the found the curtains were the same material:eek:

Primrose

How embarrassing. Still, I guess one can only smile brightly and say "How clever! Somebody has made these lovely curtains out of dress material. Don't they look attractive? :rotfl:

sammy_kaye18

Optimisticpair wrote: »

Making clothes from old curtains reminded me of a tale I heard a long while back....A lady needed a long posh frock for a do and being skint/frugal bought curtain material.To her horror she got there and the found the curtains were the same material:eek:

:eek::eek::eek::eek::eek: but still - very inventive and definitely a conversation starter I guess.

Just noticed you are a fellow welshie - where in Wales? x x x

Well, I am much happier today - have finally (somewhat) sorted things with him indoors so life seems much better again now. Took a stroll with my little man to the post office yesterday to pop a letter for my maternity allowance in the post box so should be hearing from them soon - they are being fairly generous with my maternity allowance - wage wise a week I only bring home about £70, but when I enquired about what pay slips I had to send in for them to calculate my maternity allowance I was told to send in my 4 highest earning ones for the test period I had, so got copies of them sent out to me and they are going to pay me £90 a week - which ok I know its not loads but its an extra £80 a month that will go a long way to helping us catch up on bills/debts etc. I have already sat and worked out bills with the loss of wages but the gain of maternity allowance so I will have 6 months of this until my planned return to work. Fingers crossed it will therefore make a decent dent in some things and catch us up totally with others!