I'm still trying to find the joker who left that Coke bottle near the window blind cord.....I drove miles in hope......................
Yes I can remember when you could be sat on the bog reading the Sunday Empire News and then tear a strip off for the final act...generally newspapers were cut in squares and available in an ordinary fashion,strung up behind the door. Dock leaves,I remember them too when caught out in our countryside wanderings. Miners...at times when caught short at the face used to resort to using a tub as a bog.An old friend of mine, long gone who I knew as a power plant engineer told me it was a "hazard". He experienced it when he was a mechanical fitter underground....little reflection on military history,his mother gave him an additional name...Kitchener....1916 and all that.
I have just been down the town to get a paper. Thought I would wander into the supermarket just to join in the fun. No queuing. I was pleasantly surprised to find that there was an abundance of fresh meat, fresh fish, fresh vegetables and fresh fruit. I suppose that only we old uns know what to do with these things. Bought some fish, tinned beans and washing up liquid just to show willing (using a hand basket.) I will panic later. I do not have time now. Mike
Men of 36 Inf Div (having recently returned to 'civilization' at Pashan Camp, Poona) being reprimanded for using newspaper in May 1945: To be fair, they had just come out of Burma after 10 savage months in the field. Also no-one was hoarding all the bloody loo roll... (from an appendix to the 130 Assault Fld Regt war diary, May 45)
No, they're anticipating what could happen if things get out of hand when mass hysteria and disregard for social norms replaces common sense and human decency. A similar situation occurred in New Orleans during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. It doesn't take much or long for the have nots and the ill prepared to go out and try to obtain what others have, usually by less than honorable methods. Hopefully none of us will have to go through anything like that ever again. It was not a very pleasant experience, and I remember it all to well.
It appears that servicemen,especially those on "missions" were issued with a small ration of toilet paper.For civilians it was a case of make do and mend.As I have said,I can not recollect an incident where our wartime home suffered from a blockage in of the sewage system. Possibly the best man to comment on this is Ron who had sufficient experience on the battlefield in Italy to relate his experiences from the dynamic point of view.
Think a 1939 style ID Register maybe required for rationing. My other half finding virtually nothing last night, was rationed to 4 yoghurts today instead of the 10 he had in his basket. So that's 1 pot each and 1 to the housebound neighbour ha ha. At least he found 3 loaves of bread today. 4 carrier bags and 5 shops visited in 2 towns. Going to cost us in diesel at this rate. Watched this documentary ages ago about the Spanish flu and finding the genome decades later in victims buried in permafrost. It is very interesting Covid 19 isn't really affecting the 0-14 year old range. Pre puberty, younger cells, more recently vaccinated? I'm curious what the scientists will find and why the virus exempts this age group.
A chap's making me smile on twatter by tracking recoveries from the virus. Some positivity in the face of much high strangeness. Some commentary that these people aren't usually removed from the infected totals seen in headlines. The meeja are making me more queasy than usual at the mo. A recent peak being pitting a senior doctor against Caprice... (whoever the F she is. A model, I think)
Compo rations all contained Latrine Paper, not sure how many sheets though (and not sure about other ration packs) - the menu sheets list quantities for everything except that - it would be interesting to know how many were judged sufficient per man per day
Agreed, the veneer of civilization is very thin. We saw the first ugly signs of that when we had a 4 day power failure in Ontario about a decade ago. The longer it goes and the more dire peoples circumstances are, the more likely it is that some people will take what they need.
6 sheets per man per day, from memory (which I don't think has been fully wiped). Not sure if wartime compo was formulated for digestive and defecatory efficiency as was alleged with post-war versions.
