Bond unpacked the shortwave radio set and tuned it to 11.56 mega-Hertz. “Alp-Uncle to Jungfrau, over,” he said into the microphone. “Come in Jungfrau, over
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Actually the Brits were on heavy rationing until February 1954. Partly because once they create a government agency it's VERY hard for them to give it up.
Anyway, if this is set in the early part of the 1950s then they'd still have some rationing in West Berlin as well as the East which was, well, pretty sad looking.
On the other hoof, they didn't erect the actual Berlin Wall until August 13, 1961. Before that, movement was more free, though still checkpointed.
This is set in 1948, 4 years before the canonical first Bond novel. The Berlin airlift ran until 1949, at which point the embarrassed Soviets suspended the blockade.
The story is accurate regarding what moving across the zone boudaries was like in 1948. That was before the Soviets were fully aware of the number of people who would flee from east to west. Also, the Berliners were so dependent on their rail system that building the wall was impossible; in fact, the reason the wall wasn't built until 1961 was the delay in rerouting all the rail lines to divorce East Berlin from dependence on West Berlin hubs.
Thanks, and yeah, in that case, I believe everyone involved is all too aware of rationing. And I kinda suspected it was pre-Berlin-Wall from your description.
"There were always people and vehicles moving about at all hours, even in the small hours of the morning well before dawn." I would drop "at all hours" from that sentence.
"palettes of coal" pallets? isn't palette a paint board, and pallet something you stack?
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Anyway, if this is set in the early part of the 1950s then they'd still have some rationing in West Berlin as well as the East which was, well, pretty sad looking.
On the other hoof, they didn't erect the actual Berlin Wall until August 13, 1961. Before that, movement was more free, though still checkpointed.
Fun huh?
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The story is accurate regarding what moving across the zone boudaries was like in 1948. That was before the Soviets were fully aware of the number of people who would flee from east to west. Also, the Berliners were so dependent on their rail system that building the wall was impossible; in fact, the reason the wall wasn't built until 1961 was the delay in rerouting all the rail lines to divorce East Berlin from dependence on West Berlin hubs.
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"palettes of coal" pallets? isn't palette a paint board, and pallet something you stack?
“Let’s discuss over coffee.” discuss it?
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