General Chat

Whats an iron?

Good morning Hayley and everyone. I was very lucky as a child because I was born into a bungalow in 1940 that had a bathroom and toilet. But, of course many didn't have that in those days and some of my relations had toilets in an out house, attached to the back of the house. When I visited my OH's parents in 1957 they were just about to move to a house with an inside toilet but the house theyw ere in had only an outside one.
We always had hot water heated by an ascot.

I think I could manage without a washing machine although it would be hard. I didn't have one untilabout 1969 so I was 29. However, although we didn't have a washing machine we had a collection and delivery service for laundry so the sheets used to go to the laundry, so i could manage if I had that (or a laundrette). I have not got a drier now. TV I might miss but would get used to it, was 13 before we had one. Hoover, yes I'd miss that. Phone no I wouldn't particularly, certainly mobile phone but the internet would be a great loss.

Central heating with radiators we didn't have until we were in our forties although we had warm air (sort of efficient) and storage heaters, not efficient and expensive.

I wonder how youngsters would manage without their mobile phones. Remember having to search for a phone box and having to have the coins for it?

God I feel almost spoilt Julia ...lololol

Morning Hayley, thank you for those very profound thoughts. I suppose that today's weather conditions have made you think this way.
I'm afraid that I do belong to the era before we all had 'mod.cons'.
We had a bucket in the bedroom for night time use, usually emptied in the mornings by Mam. The usual daytime toilet was down the yard, and very cold, even on summer days. Toilet paper was cut up newspaper squares on a nail. No phones, mobile or land lines, least of all, the internet
Clothes washing was done in a 'copper' in the corner of the kitchen, and drying was on the washing line with clothes pegs. If the weather was
inclement, the clothes were put either on a clothes horse around the fire, to dry,or on a clothes pully and raised up to the ceiling to dry by warm air. Irons were not electric, but warmed up on the fire. That was an open fire, with coals and sticks, not a gas fire.
If 'yer man', worked at the pit, you had coals delivered several times a year, from the pit yard. This was dumped on the street, and you had to barrow it in, and quickly, before someone helped themselves. Baths were not taken in a centally heated bathroom, indeed, a bathroom rarely existed. Your bath, which was usually stored hanging on a nail on an outside wall, and bought in on Friday nights, put on the hearth, and filled with hot water. Indeed, we did not have hot running water in the house. This too was boiled up in the 'copper'. It was topped up after you used it, for the next person, and so on. Hair was washed over the sink, which I still do. Friday night was always 'Amarmi' night, hence the saying that 'I'm stopping in to wash me hair'.
A televsion we did not have until I was nearly thirteen, and every so often you had to turn it off to cool down.
Need I go on. Yes we have come a long way, with mod cons.

Julia in Derbyshire

I watched a film last night on my own, it was till about 1.30 of course the CH and well and truely gone off, and I had watched the film with my hushy ( fleecy throw) over my legs, when I turn every thing down for the night and went up stairs and too the bathroom it was freezing, having to wash and change in the cold ( much to my disgust) I thought to myself whata whimp.. :-D

OH I could cope without the iron....easily! :-D :-D :-D

With a few adjustments, I probably could live without those things Hayley lol but not my washing machine.It's so laborious to hand wash everything.

Very true, No I dont think I could cope without me hoover or iron or fridge and freezer

I was only thinking the other day of the luxury of clean running water!

probably because I remember my teacher at primary school telling us of a visitor from Africa who described running water as the thing that impressed him most about the UK.

Morning Hayley :-D (edit...and Teresa) and a lovely bright one it is !

The indoor toilet has to be one of the best things invented lol, I have lived in a house without one, a few times when I was a child and once when I was about 20 and it is no fun dragging out in the cold!

I love the washing machine, we didn't have one of those till I was in my 20s, I think I could now live without the tv, certainly without the phone, but not having the internet would be a wrench now in terms of being able to do so much on it. I am managing without a dryer at the moment as the last one died before Christmas, I'm just very glad of the dry weather :-D

I can't imagine getting by without my hoover, or, as you say, the loo, though I did have a problem with the cistern where I had to use a bucket to flush it.

We actually don't appreciate what we have these days, underground sewers instead of streets flowing with effluent, hot and cold running, clean water, as opposed to traipsing miles to the nearest well, which is then hit and miss as to whether it's really healthy or not, shops on every corner (ok these aren't appreciated, when there's a huge busy supermarket to do battle in no so far away).

Then again, we do have homeless people who have none of these things, and they're not all drunks or drug addicts.

Not many homes in the UK, I should think now adays are without a in door flushing loo, but how would people like me who have never know it anyother way cope if we didnt? Not just when work is being completed with the plumbling or bulidiing work, where you'd keep out of the way for a few hours.

I would of hated to get up in the middle of a freezing cold night and trapes outside to spend a penny or worse still walk down the street to do so.

When you think about it, how much do become depended on mod cons like mobiles phone or landline phones the internet automatic washing machines the dryer the TV?