She was still rising at five o’clock, as she had done every day in Yorkshire, but now it was to wash and dress Joy and get herself ready, before they had a breakfast of bread toasted over their small fire with the long-handled toasting fork she had purchased, the toast spread with a scraping of butter or, if the ration of two ounces per week was used up, margarine. Babies and younger children had an allowance of concentrated orange juice and cod-liver oil from the local welfare clinic, together with priority milk, and she made sure Joy always started the day on a full mug of warm milk and ended it with her juice and oil. Breakfast over, they would dress for the bitter outdoors and make their way on snow-packed pavements to Caleb’s house, where Eliza would be waiting. After a quick cup of tea with Caleb and his parents at the kitchen table, Esther would leave for work and arrive just before seven o’clock. She had settled into the job quicker than she had expected and she knew that Mr Dimple was pleased with her progress, because after four weeks he had increased her wage to three pounds and ten shillings.
