Winter’s Blast: Patience And Humour

Greymouth Evening Star, 6 February 1947, Page 7

Winter’s Blast: Patience And Humour

[N.Z.P.A. SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT]

(Rec. 1 p.m.) LONDON, Feb. 5. “Full employment,” a favourite term in the mouths of politicians and economists these days, has some grimness about it for at least one section of the British workers at present—the plumbers. Never it seems have the relative few been in such demand by so many. It is an inevitable, and unfortunately logical, outcome of the present weather. First Britain froze, then thawed, now it is freezing again, and in the wake of this seasonable ruthless weather there followed a legion of burst pipes, burst mains, bothered householders and harassed plumbers. ’ 2000 Burst Mains in London. In London alone it is estimated that 2000 mains burst and all over the country there are reports of so many split pipes that the plumbers believe they will have to work until the spring to mend them all. Even the police have telephoned in frantic efforts to secure aid and a new twist has been given the joke about plumbers and their tools —many have ' no lead and cannot get any. Once again it is the British housewife who has borne the major effect of the blizzards which have swept over the country, sometimes travelling at 60 miles an hour, and also of the various fuel cuts and “load shedding” of electricity necessitated by the increased demands and coal shortages. n . x j One housewife felt so frustrated that she wrote to a London news-

paper: “I can neither keep clean nor cook. I don’t see how I can hope to keep my husband.” Plight of Many Homes. This pathetic tone moved the editor to invite other letters. One he received epitomised the plight of many homes. Probably with longing thoughts of the heat in Adelaide, a housewife gave the “score” of “England versus the Rest,” now being endured in Britain. For runs she gave days and the scoreboard read:— Pipes, c Burst, b Frost .. .. 8 Water, retired 8 Bathroom, b Flood . • .. .. 3 Boiler, st Fuel, b Ration .. 5 Electricity, b Shinwell .. .. 7 Father, c Cold, b Fly 6 Mother, not out 10 Junior, c Chilblains, b Snow .. 4 Butcher, run out 4 Milkman, st. Snow, b Over .. 1 To bat, Plumber. Mother, she said, was the mainstay against the relentless attack, but it was doubtful whether the plumber would be available to-morrow. Another housewife wrote: “I have no gas, no electric light, no water and no coupons. Also I am hungry—the rations aren’t enough. Fortunately, I can still laugh.” Those two. letters, though underlined with patience and humour, give a true insight into thousands of homes throughout Britain to-day. Small wonder, perhaps, that the weather is a hardy standby in the English conversation.