The Free Spirit

The Big Freeze, 1963 (Part One)

"I go through life without a care and I'm as happy as a clown..."

On Boxing Day Of 1962, we received news reports of a winter storm bearing cold temperatures - colder than usual, for us - that was heading our way. It is said that only the winters of 1684 and 1740 were colder than the frigid temperatures we were met with in 1963, and they were quite unbearable (although I had felt colder temperatures in other places in later years) but this particular event lasted for quite some time, and remains to be the coldest since 1895. The blizzard we were warned about hit on the twenty-ninth of December and dropped a range of several inches to several feet of snow all across the country. Temperatures dropped to -2.1°C, which was about 28.2°F, and still, the snow prevented many essential services, such as milk delivery, from performing their usual tasks. Stacey and Elton, however, loved the unusually large amount of snow that we had and they wanted to build the world's biggest snowman in our rather small backyard.

In my home, we were without milk for quite some time, rationing what we had. With two young children, it was difficult to give them their necessary dose of calcium through milk every day, as we had to ration the milk we had. We were without it completely within a few days after the New Year, and we felt the strain. I especially felt it in my tea, as I used milk to give the tea a creamier taste. Without it, I thought tea to be quite bitter, but it was still such a staple of English culture that I had to have it. Don made fun of me as I made faces at my bitter, milkless tea. "Suddenly, tea ain't so great, now, is it?" he said to me one morning.

"Still beats the dreadful taste of coffee," I replied.

"Plenty of people here like coffee, you're just picky!" Don replied.

"Picky or sensible? They like coffee because it wakes them up, not because they like the flavour. I don't think anyone likes coffee for the flavour."

"Them coffee creme candies are pretty good, though. Even you like 'em."

"That's fake coffee, that's different."

"It's still coffee."

"Coffee flavour. Strawberry sweets are good, too, but they aren't made from real strawberries, they're made with strawberry flavouring. Most of them, at least, are."

"Picky woman, you are." He said it with a chuckle.

"English woman, Donald. Now hush up and eat your breakfast. I'm trying to fatten you up but you aren't letting me."

"I don't need no fattenin' up! Imagine that, one skinny Everly Brother and one fat one!"

"Don't worry, I'm sure Jackie will make sure Phil's the fat one," I replied. "When did he become engaged to Jackie, anyhow?"

"Sometime last fall," Don replied as he sipped his own milkless tea. He, too, grimaced, and sharp one look from him at my smirking face warned me not to say anything. "They'd been datin' since a little after Meg died. I think he went to Jackie for comfort and then they just started seein' each other. I guess he decided he was ready for marriage when he proposed to her almost a year later."

"Or getting tired of not being married," I replied. Don looked at me curiously as I said that, then he set down his teacup.

"Whaddya mean?" he asked me.

"Back when Elton was still in hospital - you and Phil had come I think on part of a tour, but were only here for the one day - you were in the room with him and Phil and I stood outside and he'd said to me, 'Don's so lucky, he's managed to balance work and family life so well. I could never do that' and he didn't have to say it, but I'm sure that once he saw how happy we were with Elton, he wanted that a little."