GREAT BRITAIN: Signs of the Times

Winter lay ahead, but autumn lingered. In a Kentish garden figs ripened, scores of Red Admiral butterflies swarmed over beds of chrysanthemums. Beneath clean-picked apple trees strawberries bloomed again. Farmers harvested late crops as daffodils poked their shoots out of the soil. The season was just a little queer. ¶ London’s overworked bus conductors and conductresses (clippies) decided to enforce a “no standing” rule during rush hours. Clerks and M.P.s trudged to work, tempers flared. Goaded by a bossy clippie, 60 medical students shooed her off her own bus while they sang “Oh, why are we waiting?” (to the tune of Oh, Come All Ye Faithful).

¶ Hastings fishermen protested against the encroachment of an amusement park on their fishing grounds (see cut). ¶ In London’s St. Bartholomew’s Hospital, 40 night nurses, peeved with their frugal fare, staged a lie-down strike. They stayed in bed an extra hour.