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Transcription

[Page 123]
[continued from page 122a]

all our food is rationed. Meat is very scarce
but we manage to supply its want with occasional
rabbit, most of it imported, or wood-pigeon.
Venison in season is a great luxury. We
are looking forward to a supply of whale
meat to arrive shortly from the antarctic
and said to be excellent! Milk is in very
short supply as so much of the diminished
output now goes, rightly enough, to school
children and nursing mothers. Our allowance
at the moment is 1 pt. [pint] daily for 4 people though occasionally
we manage to procure an additional
pint when the dairy has an extra supply
This enables us on such occasions to have porridge. Bremner,
my excellent foreman in Caithness,
nearly wept when he learned last summer
that we had only had the miserable ration
of eggs throughout the war, sometimes only
one a month, while he could have sent us a
doz. [dozen] a week - Now we receive the doz. [dozen] regularly.
We still have coupons for all our clothes
and prices are very high, so one buys
as few as possible. No longer does it matter
if one wears a frayed collar or a patched
jacket. I have not had a new pair of shoes
since about 1939! The uppers of most are

cracked and shabby but nobody troubles about
such details. Taxation is very heavy, income
tax still 9/6d, with the result that few owners
of large houses can continue to live in them.
and if they could do so could rarely find servants.
Few people in houses such as we have, have
more than one maid; many have none! The
price of small residences such as this in
Barnton Av. [Avenue] and in comparable districts
around Edinburgh have risen to a preposterous
figure. - ‘The White House’ in Barnton Av. [Avenue] sold
recently for £10,000, while ‘Lankswood’ next
door is said to have brought £9,600!
To add to the troubles of humanity - there is a
great shortage of coal and we are being
afflicted with the gloomiest winter we have
had for years. The frost in Edinburgh has
not been excessive, but we have now had
snow covering the ground for over a
month and just when the outlook was
becoming brighter with the melting of the
snow in the sunshine, we have had a fresh
fall last night and now it lies to a depth
of 4 – 5 inches. Owing to the fuel crisis
our electricity has to be off from 8.30 A.M
to 11.30 and from 1.30 to 3.30. We are
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