Deborah Burrows

9.00 on Friday morning.

The most frustrating thing about being free to do as you please is all the time available. How to organise your day so that it is productive, but also enjoyable and stimulating. I’m in the fortunate position of being able to spend time writing and researching – my two favourite things – in one of the loveliest parts of the globe, the village of Iffley, near Oxford, England, in late spring.

It’s far too tempting just to look out of my window at verdant gardens and birds and squirrels and dragon flies and bees. A short walk away is a ‘village shop’ that is manned by a woman at least one hundred and five years old, where they sell sandwiches made by women in the village according to a ‘rota’ posted up above the till. Yesterday I had egg, lettuce, cress and mayonnaise, and it cost me 1 pound 40p – bargain!

I’ll try this for a schedule: Answering emails and writing Facebook, blog and twitter for an hour each morning. Then doing my research on the Web or ordering books to be read at the Bodleian Library in Oxford – it takes a day for them to arrive if they’re not on the shelves. Then writing for a couple of hours. Then lunch. More writing. Then a walk with Toby either into Oxford, or as we did yesterday, along the Thames Path.

We did that yesterday. It was a lovely afternoon, warm with sunshine peeping out occasionally through the clouds. We walked south and ended up in Sandford-on-Thames and had a drink at the King’s Arms on the river, sitting under a huge horse chestnut and watching the boats in the lock there. The walk took us through Wind in the Willows country, past fields with the river to our left, under a disused Victorian railway bridge, now fading into rusty oblivion. Also under the noisy A423, the Eastern By-pass; the traffic noise followed us for far too long, competing with the sound of water birds and song birds. Intriguing little paths ran off to our right through thickets into woods. Beyond the muddy fields were hazy little hills, perhaps the Chilterns? After we’d passed the delightfully named ‘Fidler’s Elbow’ – a part of the river that is, of course, shaped like an elbow – we crossed a bridge to a long island. The path took us past a weir where a father and son were on the bridge playing Pooh Sticks in the tumultuous current, and then we were at Sandford Lock.

As we arrived, a narrow boat, prettily painted and manned by an elderly couple, was entering the lock and we watched the gates close and the water rise. The lock is much deeper than our little Iffley Lock, at least two metres change in the level of the water. Beyond the lock was the Kings Arms, which is on the river at the site of an old – very old – Norman old – mill, that has now disappeared. The pub garden was quite crowded and there were masses of children running around. I thought I’d earned my cider and chips!!
Wikipedia says of Sandford:

“Jerome K. Jerome described Sandford as “a very good place to drown yourself in” in his book Three Men in a Boat. The watercourse behind the lock-keeper’s house (dated 1914) flows from the “big lasher” weir which creates strong currents and eddies. In spite of the danger, this was a favourite swimming place up to the mid-20th century. In 1921 the river here claimed the lives of three Christ Church students, including Michael Llewelyn Davies, the adopted son of J. M. Barrie, who was the inspiration for Peter Pan. An obelisk that has stood here since at least 1821 records the deaths of six Christ Church students who drowned here in three separate incidents between 1843 and 1921. Even into the 1950s the river at Sandford-on-Thames was still regarded as a place to come and relax. On Sundays people came from Oxford to swim at The Lido below the lock and to picnic. The King’s Arms had extensive tea-lawns on which to spend lazy Sunday afternoons.”

I’d like to visit places associated with literary figures or books I’ve enjoyed. Any suggestions? I want to visit Kelmscott (William Morris’s house), Batemans (the home of Rudyard Kipling), Hardwick House and Mapledurham House (both credited as ‘the real Toad Hall’), Down House (Charles Darwin), Sissinghurst (Vita Sackville West). Any other suggestions?

Meanwhile, now I need to keep researching The Battle of Britain.

Here’s a lovely photo of the roses that climb the wall of the house adding ours. They lift my heart whenever I return home:

For all of those who follow my Facebook page – https://www.facebook.com/pages/Deborah-Burrows-Author/169106739823360?ref=hl or my twitter account – https://twitter.com/BurrowsDeborah – you already know that I’m going to be living in England for 2 years. In Oxford to be precise, well in a village called Iffley about a mile south of Oxford to be precisely precise.

My clever husband, Toby, has been awarded an EU Marie Curie Incoming Fellowship to study the collection and dispersal of a huge collection of manuscripts: http://www.news.uwa.edu.au/201403266528/awards-and-prizes/medieval-manuscripts-go-digital-prestigious-european-fellowship

So, after much travail, due mainly to the visa application process here, I arrived 12 days ago. This is the view from my study, which I’ve set up in the second bedroom of our cottage:

The cottage is one of a row of around eight, all built in the late Victorian period, between around 1870 and 1890. It’s very cozy, with two bedrooms, a modern bathroom and kitchen and the pretty garden you can see above.

Iffley is a lovely little village, although it is really a suburb of Oxford now, it has retained its village feel. It has an amazing church, built in 1175 – a date that seems inconceivable to an Aussie like me. Past the church is the Iffley Lock, mentioned in Three Men in a Boat. It’s very pretty, too.

Note how the dog is wearing a life jacket, and not the humans…

Anyway, I’ve started writing and will update my progress soon.

I thought I’d talk about rationing in Australia in World War 2. For the first time, Australia actually felt threatened, and it went into War Mode very quickly. People really pulled together because of the perceived threat from Japan.

Chocolate was available only if you knew an American, because:

Rationing regulations for food and clothing were gazetted on 14 May 1942 and the idea was to curb inflation, reduce total consumer spending, and limit potential shortages of essential goods by ensuring an equitable distribution of food and clothing. But Australians were never as short of food nor rationed as heavily as civilians in the United Kingdom. Rationing was limited to clothing, tea, sugar, butter, and meat, but from time to time, eggs and milk were also rationed under a system of priority, so that it only went to those who really needed it during periods of shortage. You were allocated coupons, which had to be traded for the rationed item.

It was actually rather healthy, the lack of excess that came with rationing. In Australia, the weekly food ration was:

Meat 900g
Butter 225g
Sugar 450g
Tea 90g

On beef-less days it was an offence to buy, sell or eat beef. The ‘Australian Women’s Weekly’ ran a competition for the best meatless recipe. The winning recipe was for mock sausages:

‘Boil one cup rolled oats in three-quarters cup salted water for 15 mins, then add finely chopped onion to flavour. Mix well, empty into basin. When cool add one beaten egg, pepper and herbs to taste, one cup breadcrumbs. Shape into sausages, roll in flour and fry in deep boiling fat until golden brown.’

What is really interesting is how long rationing went on for after the war ended:

Item Date gazetted Date abolished Quantity per adult
Clothing 12 June 1942 24 June 1948 112 coupons per year
Tea 6 July 1942 July 1950 lb per 5 weeks
Sugar 29 August 1942 3 July 1947 2 lb per fortnight
Butter 7 June 1943 June 1950 1 lb per fortnight
Meat 14 January 1944 24 June 1948 2 lbs per week

Ending rationing was one of the promises of the Menzies Liberal Party – and it won power by a landslide in 1949!

http://australianbookshelf.wordpress.com/2013/05/02/aussie-book-review-taking-a-chance-by-deborah-burrows/

Hairstyles in the 1940s were fuller and longer than those of the 1930s. The side part was a signature of the 1940s, as it was the foundation for most styles.

The pageboy hairdo was stylish among young women.


The 1940s pageboy hairstyle had a lot more volume than the sleeker version that was prevalent in the 1950s and 60s. Women set their curls by wetting and pin-curling the hair, then letting it dry for hours, sometimes overnight. The hair was then vigorously brushed and curled under.

This is a you-tube tutorial on how to achieve an authentic 1940s pageboy ‘do’.
Pageboy tutorial