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Carpets and floor coverings. For the stairs in the rented flat we bought 2 x 12 foot wide by 1 foot long "End of roll" carpet pieces from a stall in Birmingham Rag Market. We cut each of them into 7 pieces just over 1'8" wide and we nailed a piece on each stair tread. If I remember correctly the total cost was £3, not bad for carpeting the stairs.

We also purchased a 12 foot square carpet from The Beehive store in Birmingham for £9. That was for the "Sitting Room" in the flat which measured about 16' x 14' so we bought a piece of lino which we cut into strips and placed them against the walls to cover the bits of floorboards not being covered by the carpet. That carpet moved with us to our next 2 homes. Our 3rd home was bought with fully fitted carpets so the carpet, still in good condition, was passed on to Mr's J's sister whose house didn't have fitted carpets.

As far as wages were concerned when we bought the maisonette I was working in an office earning £20 a week and Mrs J was a sewing machinist earning £18 a week. The mortgage repayments were to be £23 per month and at that time building societies insisted that your weekly income be greater than the monthly repayment but they would not take your wife's earnings into consideration. In order to obtain a mortgage I had to sweet talk my boss into telling the BS that my weekly earnings were £25.

Happy days.

Hope all the birthday peoples had good days. I have just seen a gorgeous pic of A*** with an enormous sundae.

we married in 1967, moved immediately to the US.

Our wedding gifts were all "small items" .............. china, crystal, etc. No furniture of any sort, although my-f-i-l gave us a cheque for "future use" to buy some furniture later.

We lived in a furnished apartment in Texas ............ OH had rented it 5 months before, and the first thing he had to do was go out and buy sheets and towels.

One year later, we moved up to Canada, and into an unfurnished apartment. F-i-l's money had been invested in the UK, so we didn't have immediate access to it.

The place, like apartments over here, did have fridge and stove, and was fully carpeted and curtained .... we slept on the floor in our sleeping bags for a coupl of nights until we got chance to go to the local Sears

....... and then we bought some stuff on a credit card ............ we bought a hide-a-bed and 2 chairs. The apartment manager found a folding card table that someone had abandoned in the storage area and lent us that and 2 white plastic chairs from the swimming pool area ....................... and that is what we had for the next 6 months!!


The hide-a-bed is long gone ................. but we still have the 2 chairs. They are the "half-tub" style, and have been recovered, but are still very comfortable.


My monthly salary as a schoolteacher in 1967 was £100 a month (before taxes) ............ my first job in Texas as a technician at the university was $400 US, and that was about £50 a month more!

That was the price of things in those days Gins. My housekeeping was £5 a week - 1968-9.


Jonesey, you remind me so much of our start to marriage life. OH was at college in Oxford and I moved down there to live with him. We had a flat over a garage and thought we were really posh because we had rugs along the hallway :-D

Like you, the rest of our possessions were mainly our wedding gifts or things we had bought cheaply. Those were the days though! It certainly taught us how to appreciate things when we could afford them........



Have been busy all day........autism day in town - home - baptism prep this evening. Jim jams on now and settled down for a couple of hours.....

Hmmm, you were right Dea

You bought your first home for HOW MUCH :-0 :-0 :-0 :-0

hi all
xx


the sun was shining first thing this morning!

gone behind clouds now


and the street cleaner was going up and down the street early ............... must be spring soon!

The city leaves sweeping up all the leaves that fall in autumn until January or February. Have no idea why!!



s
xx

Gin,

I was not joking, I really did buy Mrs J a lawnmower for her 21st.

As an impoverished, recently married couple we had decided to buy one another practical gifts rather than frivolous ones until such time that we could afford to do otherwise. Other examples being the year I bought Mrs J a fridge for her birthday and the year I bought her a dining table for Christmas whilst the same year she bought me 4 chairs to go with it as my Christmas present.

There was no "Urgent" need for us to marry but we married without very much money behind us. Basically once the ceremony and the 2 day honeymoon in Somerset were over we had about £50 left over between us to start our married life together. Our first home was a rented upstairs flat in an old house (Rent 3 pounds 10 shillings a week), we had just a few sticks of furniture (Bed, settee, wardrobe, kitchen table/chairs) and some pots and pans (Mainly wedding presents). We were both working and within 6 months we had saved the £320 necessary to put down the deposit on our first bought home, a 2 bedroom ground floor maisonette which cost us £3,200. The maisonette had lawns front and rear, hence the need for a lawnmower.

As a matter of interest we sold that maisonette 5 years later for £6,250 and bought it for a second time in 1992 for £45,000 for our daughter.

Knowing Jonesey Ginns, I fear that he probably isn't joking ! :-0

Mind you, he probably took her out somewhere nice as well ? (I hope) !

Dea Xxx

I hope you are joking Mr J, about the lawn mower I mean :-0

I bought my wife a lawnmower for her 21st birthday and I have been paying for that mistake on and off ever since. :-(

The closest that I ever got to redemption was when I took her to the Bahamas for her 40th. :-D

<3 <3 Happy Birthday LKs grandaughter <3 <3

Glad you got your shoes back on Sylv..smells much fresher around here now ;-)

Cyns, I like the sound of your nuts

I guess the 49 pink flamingoes and 1 buzzard are better than 50 gnomes in the garden, all fishin and flashin :-0

Good morning everyone... :-D


Thank you for breakfast Sylvs....just going to decide what I would like - it all looks wonderful.


Happy birthday to your granddaughter LK. <3


I guess your OH realised that you wouldn't mind a surprise party Sylvs.......mine would have probably turned and legged it...... :-D :-D

Hello LK - Nice to see you :-) :-) :-)

Ham and cheese omelette please and perhaps a few grilled mushrooms - thank you Sylvia <3 - Glad to see you are getting so much better.

See you all later,

Dea Xxx

Breakfast is ready


porridge ......... with toppings of brown sugar, cream, dates, nuts

selection of cold cereals


toast (selection of breads)

croissants

barm cakes


Full English

ham and cheese or asparagus omelette

Bacon, ham, turkey sausages, grilled mushrooms, grilled tomatoes, baked beans, fried bread >>>>>>>>>>>> in the warming pans.




enjoy
xxx



s
xxx

good morning everyone




it's going to be rain, rain, and more rain




s
xx

LK



Happy Birthday to your granddaughter for tomorrow
xxxxx <3 <3 <3

OH arranged a surprise party for my 40th


Took me out for dinner, arranged for one of our friends to have a key to get into the house, let in other friends AND take the babysitter home.

We arrived back form dinner to an almost dark house ................ opened the front door, turned on the light and everyone jumped out at me!!


Then OH ran straight to the bathroom, and threw up his dinner!


He'd had a starter of prawns and it was obviously a "bit off".




For my 50th ..................... OH and daughter planned a surprise .......................





49 pink Flamingoes and 1 Buzzard planted in the front garden (not real ones, of course!)

Plus a sign that read

Sylvia
50 is not old ..................... for a tree



Quite the neighbourhood attraction for the next 24 hours!

I'm late 'cos it was a physio day.


I managed to wear shoes again .................... but Matt did some manipulation of the toe joint, to make sure it does stay "mobile".

Then he began to work on my back ........... massage, stretching, ultrasound, and then a heat pad. I had a lovely snooze while the heat did its magic :-D




s
xx

Hi all
xx




drizzle, sun, rain, wind .............. bit of everything today.


But too warm for s***




s
xx

My beautiful granddaughter will be 5 tomorrow.
We will be taking her out onthe 16th. She has decided she likes to eat places like Cafe Rouge because she is grown up now. No Mc D's for her.

Hugs for every one who needs it. <3