[Vwoolf] The Blitz Spirit (7)

[Jeremy Hawthorn]

Bananas really were like gold dust in the UK in WW2. A family story has 
my father coming home from work (he was drafted, but worked in London) 
with a single banana, some time in "the duration." It will have cost him 
a bit as it probably "fell off the back of a truck." I was born May 
1942, so cannot have been more that three at the time. The banana was 
peeled, then sliced into four, with a part each for my mother, my 
father, my brother and me. When my part was put in my mouth I spat it 
out. I have never liked bananas. To their dying days, my parents never 
allowed me to forget this, and suggested that there might have been 
something symbolic about the event.

Jeremy H


On 24.12.2020 09:59, Stuart N. Clarke via Vwoolf wrote:
> “The supermarket chain Sainsbury's said that if the travel 
> restrictions continued there could be some food shortages, including 
> of salad leaves and citrus fruit.” (BBC)
> From Alan Bennett’s “A Private Function” (set in 1947):
> PC PENNY: Mrs Metcalf?
> MRS METCALF: What love?
> PC PENNY: Are you wanting that banana?
> MRSMETCALF: (Apologetically) I am, love, I’m planning a trifle.
> Stuart
> (Day 282)

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