14. January 1945: The price of potatoes

The barracks before the air raid. Source: https://www.historischekringbussum.nl/images/BHT22/bht22_1e2.jpg

The Kolonel Palm Barracks near Bussum were bombed in an air raid by 12 fighter planes in the night of November 25, 1944. Twenty four hours later the operation was repeated. There was a large amount of German materiel inside the building that the Allies had received information about, and the goal was to destroy it.

Understandably Mother wasn't thrilled when I told her where I had sat in the night.

In January, it started to snow. Senta, our housekeeper. had somehow managed to secure a permit from the city council to remove tree stumps from the forest near the water tower. 

Of course it was really the trees we were after, not the stumps they were attached to.  We went with Senta and a couple of other people to the woods to go chop down some trees. Fortunately it had been snowing because it made it easier for us to drag our heavy load home on a sled. Even so, it was so heavy that I was afraid it might collapse.

One day, to our utter amazement, our neighbours across the street from us at 5 Stargardlaan had a delivery of potatoes. The shipment must have been clandestine, because potatoes had already been totally unavailable for weeks. It must have cost them a fortune. 

The price of a 40kg sack was about fl1,000!  It was also very risky to buy food around the rationing system. Surreptitiously we watched the delivery through the curtains. 

To my surprise, a large potato rolled from the cart into the gutter!  As soon as the coast was clear, I went outside, picked it up and brought it in.