2026 Fashion On The Ration Challenge

itsthelittlethings · 14 February at 1:41PM

A beautiful day. Thank you to all those who turned up to "Make do and Mend" in the church hall this morning. We had five in the end which I don't think is too bad and we weren't cold at all. I did rather more nattering than mending although it was lovely to see some Swiss darning in action from Sheila from the next village. It doesn't look that difficult! I was rather embarrassed at the end when the vicar turned up as we were putting the chairs away and invited us to his service on Sunday. I have to say I didn't know how to refuse and may have left him with the impression I'd be there.

Yesterday I had an unexpected day off work as there was a stoppage. I tried the trousers I bought for land girl work on in the morning meaning to wear them out for a tramp in the woods. Disaster! They are at least one size too small and cannot comfortably be worn. I shall have to stick to jeans (did they have jeans in the forties?) and perhaps give them to charity. I did go out for a good half hour in the woods (gym) and then had a small salad for lunch.

My landlady is away for the weekend with her best friend so I put the radio up good and loud and cleaned my room this morning. I'm out to the pub (did pubs stay open? Could women go to the pub?) this afternoon for a knitting and natter. Mustn't overdo things this weekend as I'm on the early shift next week.

MrsCD · 14 February at 4:12PM

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81884412#Comment_81884412

TThey look very much like mine from D@mart, @Nelliegrace

MrsCD · 14 February at 4:15PM

I'm still having problems with the new formatting! Grrrrrrrr.

WWhen I go to a new paragraph, the first letter shows twice.

AAlso, if I put a name in with the '@' symbol, I can't type anything after it....

PProgress or what!!!

PipneyJane · 14 February at 5:01PM

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81883785#Comment_81883785

Maybe it’s our age range, maybe it’s because we were all exposed to something, but I seem to have a lot of friends who’ve been diagnosed with something in the last few years. Me. (Non Hodgkin Lymphoma). My foster sister (breast cancer). A school friend: bowel cancer (found very early, cured). DH’s ex-flatmate: liver cancer which, if the surgeons hadn’t cut corners, might have been curable. (On the Sunday, he had “back” pain. On the Monday, he was admitted with severe jaundice. Rather than following procedure which, these days, involves a CT scan, they did a keyhole cholecystectomy and removed his gall bladder without taking a good look around. Of course, he remained jaundiced. It was only after several weeks of faffing that they discovered he had a tumour, by which time it had spread. He’s now receiving chemo, but will never be cured.)

The only things we can do are strengthen our bodies with good food and exercise, connect with other people, and live well. Put your best foot forward. If there’s something you’ll regret not doing, then save up, train for it, and do it. “Don’t die wondering”, as they just said in the 6 Nations Rugby commentary. (I’m watching Ireland vs Italy.)

Pip

PipneyJane · 14 February at 5:05PM

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81882648#Comment_81882648

I’ll have a look for Rebecca, @Nelliegrace. Thanks for the link to the Wartime Kitchen episode. Ruth is one of my favourites. I’ve got the book upstairs; I’ll have a look. (Seriously, there are far too many books in this house that I haven’t read but bought with good intentions. It’s one of them.)

Pip

PipneyJane · 14 February at 7:35PM

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81884636#Comment_81884636

Not progress. Can’t underline - when I complained, I was told flatly that underlining will never be an option - no access to HTML, and whether you want it or not, every carriage return results in a line spacing between paragraphs, which you can’t remove. (I was writing my meal plan in the Grocery Challenge thread. Previously, I’d do a list with the weekdays in bold as the starting point. Only way to do it now is as a bullet pointed list.)

Grrrr….

Pip

PollyWollyDoodle · 14 February at 7:44PM

@itsthelittlethings yes, women did go to pubs. I’m old enough to remember pubs with two different bars, the ‘saloon’ or ‘lounge’ and the ‘public’ bar. Women would not usually go into the public bar, although by the early 1980s when I started drinking that was dying out.

My mum certainly went to pubs in the 1930s/40s but usually with friends. She said that if she went in alone to wait for a friend, she was often assumed to be a prostitute looking for clients.

PipneyJane · 14 February at 8:52PM

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81884917#Comment_81884917

I had that in a posh hotel’s bar in Glasgow, in 2015! Went to meet a colleague - we were both staying there but he’d arrived that evening, while I’d been in Glasgow all day - and encountered multiple business men with “that look” on their faces. Annoying and scary at the same time.

Working in engineering, I’m used to being the only woman in the room or at least in the minority. Much more fun was the time I when out with a group of colleagues to celebrate someone’s birthday. Some bloke tried to chat me up at the bar and, suddenly, I had 15 big brothers, all staring him down.