A Little Proper and Adult Respect

Growing up at a time when sugar had only recently come off rationing, the two greatest treats of my childhood were, separately considered, strawberries and jelly. Most of the time the only items in my mother’s larder that were of interest to a seven-year-old were the following: Pompadour wafers, reserved for dinner parties – to be served with ice cream – liable to be noticed if purloined; dried fruit such as currants and sultanas (to which I am still partial but which I find are often spurned by a younger generation); and, lastly, packets of condensed jelly.