Rationing

Remember wartime ration books
The ingenuity of wartime cooks
Nothing allowed to go to waste
Porridge becoming a familiar taste

Tatties and neeps (stomaches-full)
Peas from the kailpot to chew at school
Remember tops of eggs being taken
For tea – it was no joke
Kids then seldom tasted yoke

Powdered egg in a tin
Less sugar and sweets (more saccharin)
Baked rice, raisins, curds an’ whey
Custard and rhubarb – desserts of the day Read more......

It was September 1944, I was a student nurse in Apeldoorn and I had been at home on sick leave as I had TB. The cure was bedrest and good food. We lived in occupied Holland, Groningen, not far from the German border. My father worked there on the railway and he was told by the Underground that we had to leave our house and go underground. We put what belongings we could in an empty room belonging to a neighbour. The rest we just had to leave in our house. Father and Nico, my brother, dressed as workmen and cycled to Makkum, the village where my parents were born, and where we had a lot of relations. Nobody wanted me as I was ill and did not have a ration card. Read more......

I was born in Perth but moved to Dundee when I was still very young. I lived in Dallfield Walk and went to 'The Rosie' (Rosebank Public School) in Tulloch Crescent.

My Dad was a wood turner. Once he made a 'piler' (cart) for my brother. It didn't last long though because he took it out and went flying down Dallfield Walk right under the legs of a horse! When dad found out about it he broke up the 'piler' right away! Read more......

Someone mentioned the butcher shop selling horseflesh at the bottom of the Wellgate. I worked there as a laddie after school and on Saturdays, earning £1 a week. And yes, we sold only horsemeat. If I remember correctly beef was rationed at the time (1950) and the queues outside the shop were quite long on most days. We used to get a big parcel of meat home with us on a Saturday night, steaks, joints, sausages etc. Read more......