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Monday 26 March 2018

March 1947: Plus ça change...

Back in March 1947, Britain suffered from severe gales, snowstorms and three times the normal rainfall.
There were also other problems looming in Europe, but everyday life was measured in small comforts, including of course, a cuppa.


Marylebone Station, built 1899 for the Grand Central Railway, London

On 26th March 1947,  Maggie Joy Blount, a Mass Observation contributor,  recorded:

"In London since Saturday.  Saw S.  Thinks that Russia will soon withdraw altogether from Europe and retire behind impenetrable 'iron curtain' to prepare for war.  Says they, (Russians) are realists, out for the good of their own country and their unborn millions, determined to get it in their own way and just think us foolish.  He said ' I don't like the Americans, but I'd rather live in America than a Soviet-controlled Europe.'
London cold, drab as ever.  Worked in libraries. Best reference library I know is at Marylebone.  Convenient, comfortable, a desk for each worker, light, shelves, ink*.  Have discovered a tea room in Marylebone main railway station."
*[ the forerunner of wi-fi access?]

Quoted from Our Hidden Lives,  S. Garfield

And a glimpse of spring's return, despite international problems.

Inside  Marylebone Station

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