Orange Juice

Today in England is a Bank Holiday so that means places are closed and others are open. Banks and offices are closed while historical, folk parks are open. Today, an historical folk park is precisely where we slopped through a considerable amount of English mud to go and visit. We saw old printing presses and toys. We saw steam-driven thing-a-me-bobs and do-dads and learned about farthings and sixpence coins and half pennies. My favorite stop of the day was at the 1940's booth. I got to see red and green paint utensils and war-rationed foods. The charming chap who owned all the goodies, named Roy, took me behind the ropes to pick and prob my was through anything I wanted. Over Glenn Miller he showed me his baby picture and those of his parent's wedding day. I saw his chemistry set and a woodworking play  set he used so long ago. We discussed how certain kitchen gadgets were used and I even got to see a canning device many people in a village would have shared to preserve food. Roy had matchbooks and razor blade paper covers. He had razors and shavers and kits. I flipped through wartime cookbooks and marveled at the clever ingenuity of it all. My favorite kitchen artifact was the orange juice concentrate children used to drink after water was added. My favorite part of the experience was envisioning my grandmother cooking in a similarly outfitted kitchen with my mother tottering about her feet.