Lady MacRobert's Reply

World War II British Military
#1

How some Scots (and an American woman married to a Scot) responded to Hitler.

ALERTS TO THREATS IN EUROPE: BY JOHN CLEESE

by John Cleese - British writer, actor and tall person

The English are feeling the pinch in relation to recent events in Syria and have therefore raised their security level from “Miffed” to “Peeved.” Soon, though, security levels may be raised yet again to “Irritated” or even “A Bit Cross.” The English have not been “A Bit Cross” since the blitz in 1940 when tea supplies nearly ran out. Terrorists have been re-categorized from “Tiresome” to “A Bloody Nuisance.” The last time the British issued a “Bloody Nuisance” warning level was in 1588, when threatened by the Spanish Armada.

The Scots have raised their threat level from “Pissed Off” to “Let’s get the Bastards.” They don’t have any other levels. This is the reason they have been used on the front line of the British army for the last 300 years.

http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/926647-alerts-to-threats-in-europe-by-john-cleese

http://www.themacroberttrust.org.uk/about-the-trust/history/

http://xvsqnassociation.co.uk/xv%20sqn%20history/xv%20sqn%20macroberts%20reply.html

#2

Great links - love the John Cleese piece. Apropos tea supplies - most British people (even now) drink Indian black (fermented) tea, with milk. It was very difficult to supply demand for tea during the war; it had, after all, to be procured from India. Consequently, tea was strictly rationed. There was, of course, a black market in tea, but this was relatively limited by the sheer shortage of tea, and the ability of the authorities to control supply down to retail level. Here in Ireland, shortages of commodities like tea were, if anything, even greater than in Britain (and tea-drinking is as much a part of life as it is on the “mainland”). On both islands, this led to expedients like saving brewed tea leaves, drying them and re-using them for later “brews”. My mother remembered doing this in here youth; in fact, the practice ingrained itself to such an extent that it continued for years after tea rationing was lifted.

Must try to think up some alert levels appropriate to Ireland … JR.