James the Tortoise

Honey Thorpe with James the tortoise in 1940

I love tortoises. I was bought up with the family tortoise James. He was large and old! He had been in the family for many years before I met him in the 1940's.

James lived in style in solitary splendor on the bank above the tennis court. He had a large enclosure and a big fall onto the court if he tried to stray. This was to stop him eating the pansies. However this did not stop him getting out and occasionally a Hunt the Tortoise call went out when James had escaped.

This happy life continued into the fifties but in 1954 after my grandparents death my aunts sold Thamesway and moved to Eton Square, Belgravia and there was nowhere for James to go so he came to live with us in Stanmore.

Poor James, Middlesex clay is not good for tortoises but he survived for years with us. He was not enclosed  but had the run of our garden and to our surprise did not decimate the pansies but lived on bread and milk and dandelion leaves of which there were plenty.

Sadly in 1963 James met his end. Tortoises hibernate and this particularly cold winter James did not wake up. Daddy buried him beneath the fir trees.

The next year we moved to Pinner and Daddy decided that it would be nice to take James with us or at least his beautiful tortoise shell. Daddy knew exactly where James was buried and started to dig. NO James! Daddy dug deeper and in fact a very large hole developed during the course of the morning. James had vanished!

Obviously James had woken up! What happened to him we shall never know but I still loves tortoises and I can't resist any tortoise ornaments.

Honey Miller's answer to Hitler! Her Secret Weapon

Masons Ironstone plate first ironstone plates ever made. Royal Pattern. Left unused, right used!

My mother Honey Miller was a character. In real life she was rather shy and although she was extremely beautiful  she was often overlooked. However on occasions my mother could be a very strong and likable woman and her answer to Mr. Hitler and his horrible War was very unusual.

Honey Miller had to live through the Second World War. I don't remember the bombing as I was too young. I do remember the tanks on the Bath Road  on the way to Dunkirk and I remember the rationing that went on till 1954 but my mother had to live through it all.  Living near the Slough trading estate meant  nightly bombing during the Blitz but her main grumble was the food rationing which was harsh and went of for years even after the end of the War when it actually got worse.

When my father returned from Italy we moved into a tiny semi detached in Stanmore. We had nothing but my grandmother gave her a few beautiful plates from the family dinner service for best. My mother decided that while rationing was on out family would eat whatever was given to us on the best plates. It was her snub to Adolf Hitler.

We ate off the finest Mason Ironstone China like royalty every day. In fact the pattern was called Royal and one could imagine Queen Victoria and Prince Albert eating off them. If we were going to die we might just as well make a party of it! If the food was non existent the china was exceptional.

Rationing went on for nearly ten years after the end of the war in 1945 so the plates were well used. We ate every meal, breakfast, dried egg on toast, lunch and dinner which could include whale meat off the finest china. It was washed up by hand and it you look at the photos above you can see all the gold decoration has disappeared.

Immediately meat came off the ration in 1954 the Mason Royal plates were put away and only used for best. "Any food looks good on a beautiful plate with a red edge as it makes the food look warm" was my mother's advice. Sadly today because the red glaze is so full of lead I no longer use them. Mummy was slowly poisoning us without knowing it!

That particular red glaze is no longer made and so far no company has come up with a replacement. One pretty piece was broken but it was impossible to repair.

I love this dinner set as it reminds me of my mother's courage in the face of adversity. Very Dad's Army.