The Waterbury Democrat., 1943-09-02
BY TOM WOLF NEA Staff Correspondent

London, Sept. 2-Britain's four years of war have wrought their greatest changes on the home and hearth front. The poor old British consumer has taken 8 kicking around the likes of which his Am erican cousin has yet to sample.
 Start with the very first thing in the nnorning-waking up. Pity the poor man whose alarm clock breaks down. It's not only that you can't buy new alarm clock here (any more than you can in the States,) but you can't even get one fixed. Gall us In 8 couple of months and maybe we can take your clock then" is the stock answer everywhere. If and when someone will take your clock, 1t may three months before you get 1t back.
 Having gotten up in the morning, you start your toilet. Because of fuel rationing, not every one in the family can have @ morning bath. You have to split 1t up two morning baths, two evening. No more than five inches of water per tub when you do bathe.
 TOUGH AND PAINFUL
 Then comes shaving. Razor blades are scarce, so you've learned the trick of honing your old blade in- side a tumbler full of water and making 1t last uncomfortably long. Hair oil? Manufacturers haven't been allowed any new petroleum for such things since last Christmas. Sales will be stopped entirely next spring.
 For a woman it's even harder. Hair pins, hard to get; lipStick and rouge, inferior; face and handcream, ditto; no acetone in nail polish-it's need- ed for airplanes; toilet water and perfume, hard to get and frightfully expensive (carries a 100 per cent sales tax). Even soap, which is ra- tioned, is inferior by peacetime standards. It dries out your skin and hair.
 Underlying the greatest changes for upper and middle class families, of course, is the practical impossi- bility of getting servants and the endless delays involved with all civ- ilian services.
 It is literally impossible to live casually in Britain today. Every thing must be planned ahead. It takes three weeks to have your clothes dry cleaned, to have shoes heeled or soled. Laundry takes two weeks. A woman must make an ap- pointment at least ten days in ad- vance with her hairdresser.
 Because consumer services are swamped, you take extra care of all your posSessions-especially such ir- replaceable and all-but-irrepairable items as refrigeratorS, radios, va- cuum cleaners and the like. Being servant-lesS, you not only wash your own dishes, but you treat ordinary china as though 1t were Ming por- celain. Almost the only new china available Is utility pottery, which has such minor inconveniences as no handles on the teacups.
 It's the little things that are SO involved. You want to preserve some of the gooseberries that are ripening in your garden. You need big kettle. You can't buy one, but you can rent one from the electric company--if you get on a waiting list and your gooseberries don't go bad before you reach the top of the list. Then you need some sealing rings. You can buy them, but they're ersatz rubber and you're never sure they'll prove airtight. So all winter you have to keep an eye on your jars to see that none goes bad.
 Keeping your house clean is a big ger problem than ever. If you've had to move to defense area, you must remain satisfied with your landlords taste in decorating. Re- painting is impossible. If you were hlitzed, only the most basic repairs will be made. If you've moved into a house without telephone, you stay phone-less for the duration.