Dear Diary…

I’m training my new puppy, Oreo,  this week. Turns out its more difficult than I thought…

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There's talk of a dance tonight for the GI's and the older girls who spend lots of their time swooning after them.  I suspect it's to celebrate 4th of July,  It's a good day for our American friends because it's Independence Day.  In 1776, the 13 American Colonials regarded themselves as a new nation, the United States of America, and no longer part of the British Empire.  It's a good job we're all still friends though.

Maybe I'll sneak in and watch them all have a great time at the party: they certainly know how to swing - dance!

Geisele keeps going on about Valentine's Day, apparently it's a really important time of year, nearly as important as Christmas! I don't believe that. The girls from the village keep admiring the new dresses in the local village shop windows, swooning over the red material which matches their red lipstick.

I don't know why they bother to put out these fancy clothes, no one can afford them, unless they're given as a gift. Geisele told me that one of the older girls her sister knows got a gift of Coca- Cola and nylon stockings from her American GI friend. The GI's keep handing out powdered coffee and spam which makes the villagers happy. I'd be happy with chocolate, lots of it, enough to last me through the war!

Violet and the older guides all still love to go dancing, down at the base with the G.I’s. Sometimes Geisele and I sneak out in the evening to meet up at the church lych gate, out of sight to catch up on lots of important things... Well mostly my plans for taking the stage by storm once the war is finally over and her plans to with her sister. But we get to see the village girls being walked home after the village dance, all bright red lips and imitating the latest film star looks.

They come walking up the lane to the green with a G.I from the dance on their arm. And as we peek round the gate we can see the fathers of some of the girls, waiting to walk them home after the dance. And we can hear the frustrated sighs as their daughters see them on the green. Lots of “Howdy, sir, ” and “Dad, you didn’t have to come and meet me, ” as the girls get taken home by their fathers! It does make us laugh that their plans were scuppered by their protective dads!

To help in the war effort and also to make sure they had more food to eat in a time of rationing, people were encouraged to grow their own vegetables and fruit at home.

Families like the one Clementine was evacuated to would have grown things such as potatoes, green beans, carrots, peas, lettuces, cabbage, strawberries and raspberries. Herbs were also grown so lemon balm, rosemary, chives and mint were also popular plants. Why not plant your own victory garden at home? Choose a small plot, pick some easy to grow plants like lettuce and swiss chard, start your seeds off on a warm windowsill and enjoy ‘digging for victory’ with your Clementine.

What I wouldn’t give for even just a small piece of chocolate this Christmas! But it won’t all be bad I suppose. They still have get-togethers and sing-a-longs round the piano here like we used to have in London. I will put up my stocking at the end of my bed and pretend that I might get an orange in it – but I don’t think even Father Christmas can get those this year!

We have had some fun making paper chains to hang up in our room with strips of paper we’ve been saving up all year, stuck together with some flour and water paste. There was an awful lot of giggling and excitement going on whilst we stuck them together. I managed to get the flour paste on more than just the paper strips as well, which was very funny at the time but not so funny when I had to wash it all off the floor later on. I nearly missed Uncle Mac on the radio because of it!