We would usually queue for food. We could not find shoes either. I remember once queuing at Obor, because they brought shoes, and I bought eight pairs then just because we could not find them. The prices were reasonable, not like now.

Scandals, police raids, these were common things. District policemen usually came so that they could fill their bags (nobody told them that they were ?in the way?), and if there was a scandal, those involved were immediately taken to the police station. People would queue until they were actually sick. It was a habit to take people out of the stores on open arms. (M. C., 105)

People did not queue for a special product, but for anything they could find. (I. M., 99)

When I was eight or nine years old, I remember, as if in a dream, how it was then. Then I went to school in the morning, and my sister in the afternoon. That is why, while I was queuing, Gabi had to stay in the line, and then I would change her shift. I would sit and sit, until mum or dad came to stay. Because if we were more we receive more kilos of sugar and more liters of oil.

Everything was all right until the van with edible oil and sugar arrived. Everybody thronged and pushed; if one was a child, everyone pushed him aside and he had to stand still and stiff in the queue if he did not want to stand in queue all over again. It was very difficult for a child (at least it was for me) to queue and to be handed over to different persons ? ?Give him to me, too, to get an extra kilo of sugar? ? but it was funny sometimes to see how people were fighting for a few kilos of sugar and a few liters of edible oil. (R. D. A., 3)

The queues existed because the food products had lacked for a very long time; and when the shops got something edible, everybody crowded there and it was terrible to stay in that line, many people fainted in those endless queues and you had to be very strong to endure. The people were hungry; otherwise those queues in front of the food store could not be explained. Moreover, when some product was brought, they brought only a small amount of it and it was not enough for every one.

There were queues for meat, for fish, sometimes for strawberries; but the most stressful thing was that one had to wake up at 5 a.m. if one wanted to buy milk (otherwise one could not find it anymore), and it was very difficult especially when one had a baby. (M. C. J., 96)