A wee bit of a cheat day today.  Just because it was wartime didn’t mean that you couldn’t visit a restaurant for a meal or tea room for a cuppa.  Today I had a meeting at a well-known coffee-house, so I’m claiming my small latte and piece of lemon cake as my ‘wartime afternoon tea’.

For dinner, I made some of my homemade lentil/vegetable soup. That was followed by  bubble and squeak – mashed potatoes mixed with cabbage and onion fried in leftover bacon dripping – to accompany a sausage meat burger. I wasn’t too thrilled with the latter, but my husband enjoyed it – think he was just grateful for a decent quantity of meat! Carrots added some colour to the plate – wartime meals are a bit drab looking – and of course we ended with pudding.  You’ve guessed it, pear crumble.  With only apple and pear in season in January in the UK, it had to be one or the other.  Next week I must try to be a little more adventurous!

Today’s cinema questions for Anne were: How often did you and the family go to the pictures?  Any little tidbits you remember?

Me? Whenever I could raise the cash. I don’t remember dad ever going but he seemed strangely pro-Barbara Stanwyk. Mother loved the Jeanette MacDonald romantic musicals and would not miss anything with Greer Garson or Irene Dunne in it.  I usually went with her because she paid!

Re the tidbits… Don’t forget the magical appearance of the organ rising in front of the curtain in the interval – only in the posh cinemas in town. Also that, for your money, you got what was called ‘the big picture’, plus another not-so-good full-length film, plus newsreel, cartoon, another short – a travelogue for instance, or Pathe Pictorial. The programme cycled from about 2pm till 10/10.30 and you could, in theory, stay there for 8+ hours.