496
PARTISAN REVIEW
as a whole. After the war Britain must necessarily become more of an
agricultural country, because, however the war ends, many markets will
have disappeared owing to industrialization in India, Australia, etc. In
that case we shall have to return to a diet resembling that of our ancestors,
and perhaps these war years are not a bad preparation. The fact that,
owing to evacuation, hundreds of thousands of town-born children are
now growing ,up in the country may help to make the return to an agri–
cultural way of life easier.
The clothes rationing is now beginning to take effect in a general
shabbiness. I had expected it to accentuate class differences, because it
is a thoroughly undemocratic measure, hardly affecting well-to-do people
who have large stocks of clothes already. Also, the rationing only regu–
lates the number of garments you can buy and has nothing to do with
the price, so that you give up the same number of coupons for a hundred–
guinea mink coat and a thirty-shilling waterproof. However, it now seems
rather "the thing" for people not in uniform to look shabby. Evening dress
has practically disappeared so .far as men are concerned. Corduroy
trousers and, in women, bare legs are on the increase. . There hasn't yet
been
1
what one could call a revolutionary change in clothing, but there
may be one owing to the sheer necessity of cutting down wastage of cloth.
The Board of Trade tinkers with the problem by, for example, suppressing
the turn-ups of trouser ends, but is already contemplating putting everyone
into battledress. The quality of cloth is deteriorating, though less than
I had expected. Cosmetics are beeoming scarce. Cigarettes have lost their
cellophane and greaseproof wrappings and are sold in cheap paper
packets or loose. Writing paper gets more and more like toilet paper
while toilet paper resembles sheet tin. Crockery is somewhat scarce imd
a hideous white "utility" hardware, the sort of thing you would expect
to see in prison, is being produced. All articles which are not controlled,
for instance furniture, linen, clocks, tools, rocket to fantastic prices.
Now that the basic petrol ration has stopped private cars are very much
rarer on the roads. In the country many people are taking to pony traps
again. In London there are no conveyances, except very occasional taxis,
after midnight. It is becoming a common practice when you dine at
anybody else's house to sleep there. What with the air raids and fire–
watching people are so used to sleeping out of their beds that they can
kip down anywhere. The fuel shortage hasn't yet made itself · felt, but
it is going to do so about January. For long past the coal owners have
been successfully sabotaging the attempts to introduce fuel rationing; and
it is considered that this winter we shall be 25 million tons of coal short.
Buildings everywhere are growing very shabby, not only from air raid
damage but from lack of repairs. Plaster peeling off, windows patched
with linen or cardboard, empty shops ·in every street. Regency ·London
is becoming almost ruinous. The beautiful but flimsy houses, no longer
lived in, are falling to pieces with damp a:nd neglect. On the other hand
the parks are impro·ved
out
of recognition by the removal of the railings
