91热爆

Throughout the period that Ruth and I were at Farnsworth Grammar School the effects of the war were as severe as any can be without actually being in fighting. We had grown used to not expecting anything by the way of sweets and chocolates. I can鈥檛 remember whether there was a sweet ration but if there was it would only be 2 oz per week. I haven鈥檛 a clue what the year was but one evening my father took Ruth and I to the cinema (we called it 鈥渢he pictures鈥�). I remember it was still light as we walked up Bridgewater Road so it must have been summer time. There were two picture houses in Walkden, the Palace and the Criterion (or Crit as we called it). The Palace was regarded as the poshest. In fact the Crit was regarded as a dusty old flee pit and my mates and I once got chased away from the box office there for asking for two threepencies and a mallet!
It was to the more prestigious Palace that my father steered us. There must have been some special reason for him taking us because he has never taken us before nor, as I recall, did he ever take us again.
The Palace was on the Little Holter side of Manchester Road about 400yards from the Monument. Between the Monument and the Palace, as I recall, there were three slaps. The first was a haberdashery shop kept by Mrs Allerton, the second was a green grocers where you could buy an apple for 陆 penny (if he had any), the third was a sweet shop and I think his name was Mr Hewitt. However he managed to stay open with all the rationing curtailing his business.
We had crossed over Manchester Road and were walking in front of these shops when my father had a sudden thought and diverted us into Mr Hewitt鈥檚 sweet shop. We knew Mr Hewitt of course as his shop was on the way to our school. We marched up to the counter and purr by way of a joke my father said to Mr Hewitt 鈥淐ould we have a 5Ib box of King Georges Chocolates, please?鈥� Mr Hewitt kept a straight face his knees bent little and his hands reached under his counter. He then straightened up and without a flicker of emotion placed a 5Ib box of King Georges Chocolates on the counter and said 鈥淭hat will be 拢3 10 shillings please.鈥� There followed a stunned silence, you could have driven a horse and a cart into out wide open mouths. My father quickly recovered and produced the money, said 鈥淭hank you鈥� to Mr Hewitt and we all three walked out with the chocolates. As I say I haven鈥檛 a clue what the film was but we couldn鈥檛 have cared less as a King George Chocolate kept appearing at regular intervals. That incident was the subject of a great friendship between Mr Hewitt and our family, over the ensuring years but nobody ever asked him where those chocolates came from.

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