The War-Weary Years, con't

As time went on life got harder.  We were strictly rationed as to our food, and on the ‘kitchen front’, as it was called, the shortages continued long after the war ended.  Access to sugar, eggs, cheese, margarine, tea, sweets, bread and all kinds of meat were controlled by ration books, which had to be presented before we were allowed to buy groceries of any kind.  New clothing, let alone cloth to make it, was almost unheard of until after the war.  We collected scrap metal of all kinds, glass bottles and rubber products to donate to the war effort.  Every window had to have blackout curtains, and the Home Guard wardens patrolled at night to make sure not a crack of light showed.   We were encouraged to build air-raid shelters in our gardens.  The precious space left over was devoted to growing as many vegetables as possible.  Fruit trees became even more important to harvest, for without them a supply of fresh fruit would be nonexistent.  We couldn’t go anywhere without our gas masks.  And always we listened to the wireless, in desperate need of the war news as well as encouraging messages from the prime minister.  ‘Steadfastness and Resolution’ was the motto we lived by in those years.