THE OLD ORDER

Grey River Argus, 10 June 1943, Page 7

THE OLD ORDER

BY

A. J. LA BERN.

I just' could not believe my eyes. “Tell me,” I said to the barmaid, “is that really an orange?” “Oh, yes,” she said, “thaVs an orange all right.” “But how did you get it?” I asked. She smiled a cryptic smile. "Oh, we get them occasionally.” In this Torquay bar you could watch real orange juice being squeezed into cocktails —you could q,ven have a slice of the orange in your drink if you fancied it. Happy Torquay, where you can still dine on thick steaks. Healthy Torquay, where old ladies of both sexes have Devonshire cream with their afternoon tea. Fortunate Torquay publican, .who can squeeze real orange juice into his patrons’ drinks. At this time oranges were reserved for children under five (although the age limit has since been raised). But if Torquay children had wanted to taste an orange they would have had to go into the Castle Hotel and order a cocktail .... Next month we shall have a new Lord Mayor of London. I think it’s wonderful the way we cherish our old traditions. He must be a very dull dog indeed who is not stirred by the picturesque ceremony of a new Lord Mayor of London Citye taking office. This, my friends, is the Merrie England which we must preserve at all costs. It is a symbolical of England as those very white cliffs of Dover which have been immortalised by American songwriters. It is as symbolical of England as the roast beef of Simpsons and the slums of dockland.. .It is as symbolical of England as rustic ale in pewter tankards and the ancient stocks on the village green . . . Talking of stocks, the retiring Lord Mayor is going back to the Stock Exchange. The new Lord Mayor comes from Messrs Bovis, Ltd. —“Tribune,” Oct. 9, 1942.