Buckinghamshire 1943

 Dear reader,

                                                                   Victoria Sponge and a Cup of Tea

 

 

 

Dear Reader,                                                       

Talking about recessions, 1709 was the year of the Great Frost and the last event to devastate the nation's finances to such a crippling effect.  It first became apparent in Europe in early January, like Covid, and although there was a three week freeze, followed by a brief thaw when the temperatures plunged again, it stayed there until the spring.

Royal Navy sailors froze aboard their ships while other poor souls shivered to death in tenements lining the icy Thames. The temperatures dropped so low that church bells fractured when they pealed and trees splintered in the fields as though struck by a lumberjack's axe.  On the continent wolves, starved of livestock, wandered into villages looking for something to eat, while the Baltic Sea froze solid with people reportedly crossing it on foot. 

The woes of 1709 did not end there.  When the great thaw finally came it led to widespread flooding, famine and riots. A flu epidemic that had already been circulating in Europe turned into a pandemic. 

We often hear that expression: 'what goes around comes around', and I never quite know what it means.
Perhaps it simply means that life is circular and there is nothing new under the sun. If you know the real meaning do let me know, please.

                                                                         *

Written by S.T. Coleridge, 1799, in a coach between Westmorland and London.

'Starlings in vast flights drove along like smoke .......glimmering and shivering, dim and shadowy, now thickening, deepening, blackening'.

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Buckinghamshire 1943

that winter day
I sat in the pram
strapped in

I wore a yellow coat with bone buttons
and a dark brown corduroy collar

my nanny pushed me along a pavement
covered in crisp white snow
a blue sky overhead

a blackbird sang

but during lunch of cottage pie
and sago pudding
came the fearful sound
of enemy aircraft

terrified I struggled to put on my
Mickey Mouse gas mask
with its great green eyes
and red rubber lips

after the all clear
we had a cup of tea
a piece of sponge cake

                                                                     *

With very best wishes, Patricia