Bad Blood

Spent quite a bit of today re-reading Lorna Sage's wonderful memoir/autobiography "Bad Blood".

It is a powerful, painful, funny re-creation of a Fifties childhood - and reminds me of how much our lives (my siblings et moi) were lived outside, roaming around with other gangs of children during those baby boom years.

She talks about starting school and says:  "I think that we all forget the pain of being a child at school for the first time, the sheer ineptitude, as though you'll never learn to mark your own space.  Its doubly shaming - shaming to remember as well, to feel so sorry for your scabby little self back there in small people's purgatory."

And she speaks of her mother going food shopping to get - "in leftover language" - the rations.

Yes - absolutely.  Food was rationed for a long time both during and after the war.  I can remember going to get the rations with my mother. And we did indeed say we were going for the rations for quite some time after rationing stopped.

She is wonderful on the dynamics of Lorna Doone as well.  She was named after Lorna.

Felt a bit better today - got to the Meeting at the Hall and heard the teaching I need to hear - and even managed to get the washing and ironing done and make a vegetable soup/stew for the hungry hunter when he returned from his rally. He had been well fed on bacon burgers during the day.

Talked to Bea via email.  She says she likes yesterday's poem!