It was only after all the bedding plants in the hanging basket started blooming that we realised the patriotic nature of our choice of colours this year.
Another historic occasion for the UK today as the second female PM in our history takes over.
In the summer of 1942, my dad, Bert Martin, was a PoW in a camp at Benghazi, having been taken prisoner at Tobruk. He wrote in his diary about daily life:
"Occasionally we received an issue of ‘ghee’. This meant 1 tablespoonful of ‘Indian butter’ - white grease it looked like. It was O.K. spread on bread and I used to fry my bread in it when I had sufficient.
I remember well how I made some rissoles one day with my bread and bully. I used to try several varieties of pies etc., but after all was said and done, it was still the same old bread and bully.
Making pies etc. helped to pass away the time and sometimes it added a slightly different taste to the rations. One thing it did not do was increase the amount of food!
Round about this period, many prisoners were exchanging their kit to the Italian guards over the wire. In most cases, the Italians were offering bread or cigarettes.
I managed to obtain some loaves and cigarettes in this manner. When I could only get cigarettes, I used to exchange 5 or 6 of these with another prisoner for half a loaf of bread. Smoking did not mean very much to me then and I would much rather have food.
Of course, some men preferred a smoke to food and were willing to give half their loaf in order to secure a few smokes. I obtained several extra half loaves in this manner and they were most welcome.
My kit soon decreased and I gave up shaving as blades were scarce and very soon I had no kit left at all. I can recollect how I used to search through my remaining odds and ends in an effort to raise a smoke or a piece of bread.
A lot of kit changed hands through the auction which was conducted inside the pen. There were several crown and anchor boards running and as soon as the cigarettes came along all one could hear was these games in action.
The weather continued to be fairly hot at the time but the shower-baths enabled us to have a decent wash. We were obliged to use Italian soap however, which was very poor stuff. This was issued to us occasionally and it was a dull green colour and its smell was - just like nothing on earth."
Creative presentation full of colour and lovely detail Hazel, nice to read more extracts from your dads diary, tough times and more tough times to come, at least we know he got through them to tell his interesting story:)
Wow, Hazel! Your image and the colours are gorgeous, but I found your father's diary notes captivating! Thank you for sharing that! I wish I had any such thing from my father's war years...
So men & women both adapt to the times, cooking & food in hard times with no one else to do the job & now a woman prime minister in these liberated times. We are an adaptable race & it's fascinating to see the changes.
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