1947
Shipping from Northern Hemisphere to New Zealand is held up and there are shortages of lots of things: whisky, car tyres, velvet, babies's cotton nappies. A black market springs up to obtain such things.
Post war austerity is a fact and a mood. People dress in grey, both men and women.
Men and women wear hats when they go out. The hats are grey too.
India achieves the reclamation of its independence from British control and profiteering.
UFOs suddenly appear in unprecedented numbers of sightings
Children are seen and not heard, bashed, shamed, and this is regarded as "normal".
Children with difference are quickly despatched to institutions, considered less than fully human, and it is "for their own good". They are treated shabbily and lead miserable lives.
Disability rights are non-existent.
The double standard is in full bloom.
Working wives are considered a social disgrace.
Racism is accepted and operates at all levels - insitutional, personal, social, cultural.
Food is inexpensive here.
Schools operate on "conformity for all" basis, as social training to conform to social norms of the time - girls will be teachers or nurses, boys can choose what ever suits them.
And so I arrive on the Wrong Planet and my life begins...