“You would buy toilet roll if it was available, which wasn't often.” No, that’s not a quote from someone in the future telling the story of the Covid-19 pandemic. It’s my Dad’s words as he recalls living in Poland under communism in the late 1970s. He remembers how some entrepreneurial folk used to sell spare rolls in the street.
“You would ask, 'Where did you get it?',” he adds, emphasising the urgency of the question. He’s been reminded of it all lately right here in the UK, having seen droves of people carrying large packets of loo roll home from the shops.
Toilet paper shortages became a cliché of life in the Soviet Bloc. For some, they were symbolic of everything that could go wrong in such a system. A target of mockery, even.
