General Chat

I once went to the outside loo when visiting my friends grandmother in Bury. It was situated over a stream or some sort of water course about six foot below. Scary.-jl

MY GRAN'S HOUSE USED TO SCARE ME SOMTHING ROTTON .OUTSIDE LOO WAS A LEANTOO NEAR BACK DOOR OT WAS A PLANK OF WOOD WITH A
WHOLE CUT IN IT,,WE USED TO HAVE A LOAD OF TIN CANS ON STRING TO MAKE A NOISE SO
TO SCARE THE RATS AWAY

Blimey Dizzi,you,re talking Ancient Brit there. And Chilblains, use the old type of cure for them as Frostbite. :-D :-D :-D

SITTING TO CLOSE TO THE FIRE CAUSED THEM

Very interesting thread. Anyone remember chilblains? Ooh, how they used to itch!

TRY CAMPING IN A FIELD WITH NOTHING THERE
A FRIEND HAS A SMALLHOLDING AND WE WENT A COUPLE OF TIMES LAST YEAR
NO TOILETS
NO WATER
NO ELECTRIC
HEATED WATER IN THE WOK TO WASH WITH
A LOG FIRE TO KEEP WARM AND PROVIDE LIGHT
AT NIGHT,
YOU SOON GET USED TO IT

blimey you lot.......

lucky I'll say,,,,,,,mitten and gloves.

I wore me dads forces issue socks on me hands in winter never had a scarf.nor a hat ,just 2 pomoms sewn to an alice band that covered me ears.

a winter coat was unheard of.
when summer came dad cut down our wellies to make rubber slip on plimsoles. :-)

No, that's right. She was 21 and a stoker in the navy at the time, though.

You also said and I quote " we were that pouuur I had to wear my sisters clothes " or was that a secret? :-0

No thats where I was born. We moved to the shelter when our Dad got a job catching stray cats that were sent to work in the flour mills catching mice.

lolololol Eldrick you liar you told me you was brought up in a cardboard box in the bottom of a pond.. :-D :-D :-D :-D

ahh poor liddle moggy....well we hactually lived in a shoe box on the M1....but someone has also recorded that in a previous life :-P :-D...

Well when I grew up in the converted Anderson shelter in the back yard of the local pub, we didnt have no outdoor loo either and as for cutting up newspapers and sticking it on a nail...luxury. We kept a cat on a stick. A bath was something posh people had, we just waited till it rained. The drought of 1953 was a bit of an interesting time.

Sometimes in the winter we used to bring trays of ice into the shelter just to warm it up a bit. Mother used to get our clothes from the army surplus stores. I went to school dressed like a Japanese admiral and my sister looked like a cross between Himmler and a land army girl.

Etc etc.

DET, I would not say it was a very happy lot for the housewife of the times, who had to do all these things, and I would never say they were the good old days, either.
Hayley just said about the things she could not do without, and many people, including myself answered what it actually was like.

Julia in Derbyshire

Some people have waxed lyrical about the conditions when they were growing up..............but what about the housewife of the times? Would we really want to go back to the physical labour associated with laundry by hand, and trying to keep the house clean of the dust created by open fires?

Yes, as a child, I do recall some of the practises - mother washing by hand or in a Copper, although I'm not sure how the big one outside was heated. And the Scrubbing board and hand turned wringer. Woe be-tide-you if you got your little fingers in the way.

A neighbour of the period used to sweep her carpets with a dustpan and brush and was sooo proud when they bought their first vacuum cleaner.

Although we could probably cope without a few items (mobile phones, and even the TV or internet if it came to it) the washing machine and instant hot water is not one of them. The good old days? Not in my books ;-)

Good morning ladies and wor Eldrick :-)

I can empathise with everything that's been given. Grew up in the forties and outside lavatory down the yard,my sister was scared of the dark,I was the youngest but guess who she had to take with her? :-(...remember too all of those wonderful garments ;-)liberty bodice with rubber buttons lol and going to school what a palaver! woollen scarf wrapped across the chest and as we went across the step a Halibut oil capsule put into our mouths :-|
Remember Mam putting Dad's heavy army coat across our bed....snug as a bug :-)
Of course no centrtal heating either,coal fires and a candle in a jam jar.....when it was really cold Dad used to light it (sowwy I know old joke :-S :-D)
I've written down all of these wonders of life in my 'history book' for my family. Think we do all take things for granted but it's progress innit....thank gawd!
Mau xx

edit: and who of the girls ( not too sure if Mr.E owned any ;-) remembers the hair tongs laid in the fire,tested on newspaper and then used to curl our hair....celebrities eat your heart out :-D

Morning ladies and Eldrick .....Mum describes alot of what you say she was born in the 1930's and grew up with nothing.

I can relate to the clothes Julia all except for the oilskin. Ugh the liberty bodice and thick navy knickers with a pocket. (where do girls keep their hankies these days Lol!!
And did you have a 'pixie hood'?

Eldrick, if you don't know don't worry about it you obviously don't need one.

A sort of PS, I forgot to say. When very young, I had to wear six layers of clothing indoor, and another two ontop when going outdoors but that was in the winter months.
They were, vest, libertybodice, full length underskirt, blouse, gymslip, cardigan, and the extra two were a top coat and a yellow oil skin. Hats, scarves and mittens were also added, and you always wore think navy knickers, and thick long socks that came well above the knee.
Talk about Telly Tubby when trying to walk round.
Julia in Derbyshire

Julia, that's a great snapshot :-)

My eldest sister used to stay with my Gran (who lived with us by the time I was born) who had an outside toilet. Sister said there was a commode in the bedroom but she couldn't bring herself to use it at night, so had to traipse down in the cold! Both Grans also had coppers, mangles, tin baths etc.

I couldn't do without the washing machine - didn't have one for years and was fed up washing by hand, even if it was just for me. Don't have a tumble drier, but do use a 'sheila maid' clothes rail - lucky enough to have the room - and that is a piece of old technology I couldn't do without!!