Saturday Centus … Birthday Party Flavour

We lived in a small community of houseboats by the river; refugees from a nearby city raised by German bombers. Even basic resources like running water,  a local shop or delivery service was not an option.
My birthday fell six weeks after Christmas; already this had been a poor affair with bread and dripping. We were  lucky if mother was able to make a gift from the rag bag; or a benevolent aunt had popped ten shillings in the post.
So unless my mother had the ingredients to bake a Plum Duff the cake for tea would be birthday party flavour again.