Peggy determinedly put these thoughts aside as she seasoned the pigeon meat and placed it in her large stewing pot. She then set about chopping the garden vegetables she’d picked earlier. Adding the rich stock she’d made from boiling a ham bone Alf the butcher had slipped her from under the counter, she popped on the lid and put the pot in the range’s slow oven. There would be eleven of them round the table this evening if she counted Daisy, so she’d planned to cook new potatoes with fresh mint to go with the stew, followed by an apple and rhubarb crumble. The apples had been stored since last autumn in the basement, the rhubarb picked this morning, and she had just enough plain white flour to make a decent crumble.

Peggy added a pinch of salt to the sifted flour and crumbled the tiny knob of margarine and teaspoon of sugar into the mix and then set the bowl aside. She would top the softened fruit with the mixture nearer to teatime so it didn’t go to mush, and serve it with the last tin of condensed milk she’d kept hidden right at the back of her larder. Ron was renowned for digging about in there looking for something tasty, and things like condensed milk, sugar and digestive biscuits had a nasty habit of disappearing.

With everything set for supper, she plumped herself down at the table and took off her knotted headscarf, then shook out her dark curls and ran her fingers through them. With the lack of decent shampoo, they felt lifeless and straggling, and she wondered if she should use some of her wages to treat herself to a trip to the hairdresser’s in the High Street – then dismissed the idea immediately. Fran was very skilled with curlers and scissors, and happy to do it for nothing. Wasting money on herself was too indulgent when there were other, more important things to buy. The head on her floor-mop needed replacing for a start; Daisy was growing out of everything, especially her shoes; and her own underwear was falling apart and beyond mending, so that if she was ever involved in an accident and had to be taken to hospital, she’d die of embarrassment.