My wife has me hooked on Downton Abbey. The Brits do it so well. Recent episode Jan 6th has the host family threatened with bankruptcy and/or foreclosure i.e. they could lose the family mansion with all the maids, butlers, valets and footmen out on the street. The timeline was post WWI. But reality in post WWII in England was not easy either. Food rationing continued long after war's end. A friend stationed in England during WWII brought back a song of the times to do with a family mansion being foreclosed and home and contents being sold at auction. Kitchen staff were in the auction house and as each item went under the hammer there were sobs emanating from the crowd until they could no longer contain themselves and a cry went up which went like this:
"Don't sell the biby's (sic) chair - the one that we hold so dear -
You can sell old Grandfather's spittle (cuspidor) - but don't sell the chair with the hole in the middle.
'Twas knocked down for two shillings - and with it went many a tear.
'Til up stepped a "navvy" (stevedore) - a stout hearted "navvy" - and knocked down the auctioneer.
(Second chorus same as the first.)
tjs
Next - Potpourri XII
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