Evening star., 1943-07-11
British, No Longer Worried, =
Are Growing Bored With War
By Marquis W. Chiids.

iT
petrol allotted to them will be used
only for driving to school.
You are likely to be stopped at any
time and If you are driving in violation
of strict regulations, your car will, in
all probability, be taken from you. In
an American Service Of Supply base I
saw 80 or more sedans and roadsters
that had once belonged to private
owners Requisitioned by the British
government, they were lend-leased to
the American forces and would be as
signed when needed to Americans serv-
ing in the British Isles.
Bicycles, always numerous, now crowd
London streets, particularly in the morn-..
ing and evening rush hours. British
women in slacks and abbreviated shorts
pedal along Park lane with no thought
of the formalities of prewar Britain
There are still taxis, too, although the
number has been greatly reduced. They
are the snubnosed, turn-on-a-dime taxis
of preblitz London and If you are stay
ing at one of the big luxury hotels
in the West End, you have no more
trouble getting a cab than you do, for
example, in overcroWded Washington. :
What has been true through most
of the war still remains true and that.
is that food is the No. 1 topic
of conversation, outranking even the
bomb that just missed you. We sat
around tea table in big old farm
house in the rich Sussex countryside
and some one realized after half an hour
that We had talked about nothing but
food, the exceptional food before us and
the food we did not have in London,
1t was exceptional There was the first
plate of butter I had seen In nearly
a month. More remarkable was the
pitcher of Devonshire creaf for the
red raspberries which were as rare in
London as hens teeth.
People who live on the land or city
people with farming relatives live better
than city people. Take the matter of
eggs, for example. The ration has varied.
from one every week to one every fort
night. But with even a small flock Of
hens you can do much better than that
even though you are rationed on chicken
feed. In suburban communities, garbage
pals are placed conveniently and labeled
conspicuously, Scraps for Pigs" or
Scraps for Chickens" England has
learned the truth of the old adage,
Waste not, want not"
Restaurant Food Unrationed.
To an American, accustomed to what.
for the average middle-class family, is
still generous fare, the London diet seems
very slim. Butter is so limited as to be
all but nonexistent. In a restaurant
the amount per person would be enough
to spread thin on quarter slice Of bread.
Food in restaurants is not rationed. You
could, If you wanted to, cheat to buy
two dinners except that the service is so
slow you would scarcely have time.
Food is, of course, very closely rationed
and most British housewives spend
good part of their time "queuing up"
Meat is rationed on price with the cur
rent allowance per person fixed at one
shilling. tuppence-about 25-cents worth
of meat week based on the current
exchange between the pound and the
dollar. Actually one shilling, tuppence,
will buy more than 25 cents worth Of
meat since food prices have been more
successfully held down in Britain. 1t
averages out at about a pound of meat
a week, depending on the kind of meat
available. Sometimes when there is
scarcity of better grades the housewife
is required to take a fixed amount in
corned beef. The butter and margarine
allowance is six ounces per person a week,
nf W turo
can be butter; in addition two ounces of
cooking fat are allowed. For certain
occupations, such as coal mining, extra
rations are granted.
You stand in queue in England for
just about everything. That goes espe-
ciauy for railway tickets. Travel has
never been rationed, chiefly because of
the almost overwhelming administrative
difficulties involved. But every effort
has been made to persuade people to
stay at home. Now these efforts have
been somewhat relaxed. There has been
a general tendency in recent weeks to
allow people little more latitude.
Many Britishers, having had no holi-
day for three years or longer, resolved
that this year they would get at least
a long week end. Over the Whitsun
week end. which includes a Monday
bank holiday. there was a general exodus
from London. Trains we're packed.
Seaside resorts were filled to overflow
ing. There was some muttering of dis
approval from officialdom and the press,
but in general the feeling was that weary
Britishers had earned a brief respite.
Must Take Own Food.
No one would travel for travels sake
these days. You have to be at the sta
ton at least half an hour in advance Of
train time if you want seat and then
unless you have bought your ticket In
advance you are likely to stand in a
queue for IS minutes or longer at the
ticket window. Dining cars have been
converted into passenger cars and if you
are going on long journey you must
take your own food. Sleeping cars are
all but nonextstent, with reservations
three weeks or month in advance and
most OF those going to foreigners or high
government officials. At night trains
are blacked out and the light inside the
carriage is so dim that reading Is all
but impossible.
Clothes are closely rationed. Even q
luxury such as a necktie takes one
coupon. People generally have a shabby
look. Few women wear hats and they