This is an entry in a year-long project to post-blog the demobilisation experience for British servicemen at the end of the Second World War. See here for an introduction to the project and here for a brief overview of the demobilisation process.
A plea from a demobbed ATS servicewoman reaches the desk of the Daily Mail's Ann Temple:
I'm demobbed, an only child, nearing 30, living at home with my parents, going back to my job here when it is ready. Four years in the ATS have made me more independent, more confident, more able to cope with problems, but I can't solve this one.
We could all be such good pals, but my mother can't see that I want some sort of life of my own. If I escape to my bedroom there are hints about fire and light bills. I'm never asked to help. Mother prefers to do everything herself, but is always complaining about lack of help.
I could help, but feel a strong disinclination to do so while she is doing it. And yet I have a guilty conscience sitting reading or killing time while she works. Is it too much to ask for some life of my own without always being answerable fo all my movements?
Ann answers: "You simply must take a decisive line to end this mess-up of feelings and dutifulness, stifled desires, conscience, and affection. You'll soon have your job. You will be contributing to home funds. Have a plan and stick to it. Work out what help you can give: doing your own room, a few regular small jobs. Turn your bedroom into a bedsitter - pay your share of the light and fire bills ..."
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