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Will It Go Off Pop?

I often ask myself this question; I am a hearty eater and always seem to be hungry. I know that one should not stuff one’s tummy. This is a habit from my young years although we had more than enough to eat in the Orphanage we were always looking for more. I do not think that we were greedy but growing boys always seem to have room for more. I have no excuse now, I am no growing boy any more I will not see eighty again. At least not on this side of my way to go in this life for, as I grow older my belly needs less and less. Soon I will be happy with a cup of tea. I always have time for a cup of tea but full meals leave me cold.

I wonder as I walk around town how other people cope especially the older People, do they have the longing for food like I do even when there is no appetite? Children I know are always hungry perhaps not for a cooked meal but something sweet, now that is another question. I was the same and could eat a bag of sweets in no time at all. Perhaps knowing that there would not be enough if I shared them with the other boys. I now cannot imagine how quick my bags of sweets vanished down my throat so as not to have to give any away. Sweets in the orphanage were rare; with a little luck a mother or father would bring sweets for their own son. The Foster Mothers if a boy were so stupid not to eat hem under the eyes of their parents, would tell the boy to share them with all of the other boys. This usually caused bad blood and many a fight took place out in the field at the back of the Girl’s cottages. I very rarely had visits my Dad was permanently out of work after fighting and badly wounded in the first world war. From Dartford to Chatham was too expensive for an unemployed Father. Most of the Children’s parents were in the same boat. Work after world War One was very difficult to get. Any that were in work tried their damnedest to stay in work.

I myself was lucky in this respect; I have always managed to find work. And strange as it now seems I can go past a shop window without staring at the arrangement of sweets laid out to catch one’s eye, as a boy I would have stood as long as I could with my mind turning over and over wondering how this or that sweet would taste if I were to eat one of them. That is really my title. would my belly go off Pop? if I was to go into one of these shops and buy all that is laid out in the shops windows. I know that I would never do such a thing but old habits die hard or that is what I feel whenever I pass such a sweet shop, a few reminiscences from your scribbler Bern.