It is tough NOW. So how are we coping

bellaquidsin

Yes, I remember it well, the copper boiler, the wringer, the dolly blue, the starch, the dripping washing, the smells the lot. My mum had a wooden posher thingy which rejoiced in the name of Peggy Legs, it was like a little wooden stool with five legs joined to two arms by a long pole. When the washing was done and my dear mum had a well earned rest and after I had had a lunch of bread and milk, I was allowed to play with Peggy Legs which was about my height at the time (eat your heart out Fisher Price) and we had great adventures together.

It makes me think, that while I still love starching white cotton pillowcases etc., we do like to thing we are Old Style, but I wonder are we really?

Mardartha, I am sorry, keep you chin up, you can do it.

Bella.

elizabunny

Morning all.
Thank you Frosty the site you linked for us was lovely -loads of old memories there. I had quite forgotton about Devon Violets, my DM always used to buy some when we went on holiday (this was back in the late 50s early 60s I think).
bellaquidsin I also like to think I'm old style and compared to lots of people I know -I suppose I am, but only to a certain extent. I do enjoy some of the things that make life easier for us, but also I miss the effort involved in achieving something without the aid of technology all the time.
......I've just changed this post here because I was thinking of how camping/caravanning holdiays have changed from the bare essentials to every convenience -including flat screen TV's and satellite. Nothing wrong with that I know, except that for me the whole point of the holiday is to get back to basics and escape the 'merry-go-round' that I'm normally on. I really enjoy not having to put the TV on, fill up the washing machine etc. etc. In fact it makes me feel very OS. We use battery/solar power for the majority of things -no generators or electric. This time of year we can collect chestnuts and roast them -yummy! and our entertainment is long walks with the dogs. I suppose it could be considered playing at OS for a short time.
However, I was brought up in the fifties, my DM believed in teaching me how to cook and clean and every Saturday it was my job to dust around all the skirting boards and windowsills in the house and on Sundays -before Sunday School I had to help bake the cakes etc that would be needed for the week and help cook Sunday dinner. I was taught to knit and sew and stretch my little bit of pocket money to include a savings stamp, a comic, some sweets and leave a little bit for my holiday box -which only got opened once a year! If I remember rightly, I used to get about 2 shillings a week at about the age of 10, that's 10p now:eek: Dad gave me my own plot in the garden and I was encouraged to grow veggies and flowers and was taught how to take 'cuttings' etc. Every Autum we would pick the apples and wrap them up in newspaper and store them in cardboard boxes for the winter. Onions would be tied in neat bundles and hung all around the garage. Happy days!
I'm so grateful for the things I was taught when I was growing up and in these difficult times I find myself turning more and more to the old ways to help stretch the pennies.
morag 1202 Do you also remember those little beaded covers to keep the flies out of the milk jug and the sugar bowl?

bellaquidsin

Hey, I still have one of those beaded covers to keep the flies out of bowls, and yes, compared with the modern woman I am extremely OS. However I am so thankful I do not have to do many of the things my DM did, like blackleading the yorkshire range and donkey stoning the cellar steps and outside toilet, although come to think of it they were my jobs when I was about 10 and when they were were finished I had to go to my grandma's and do hers.

Bella.

kingshir

I don't blacklead my woodburning stove but I love giving it a polish every morning with WD40 which makes it shine (and cleans the liitle windows wonderfully and doesn't give off a nasty niff and fumes when the fire is lit:p)

Rummer

I do not want to clean my kitchen. After the week I have had facing the kitchen carnage is the last thing I want to do. Not a very productive or relevant thing to share with you however I really don't want to!

BigMummaF

My dad came from north Devon & we used to visit with Gran for our two weeks holiday. The cows were brought down through the village twice a day from the top field to the milking parlour & we could--literally!--hang out of the window & stroke them We would take Gran's brown earthenware bowl to the farmhouse to buy fresh cream that had been made in an enamel baby bath, or buy it from the market on a Friday. We were never allowed in the front parlour until Grandad was so poorly he had his bed in there & after he passed I used to share Gran's bed, providing there was a little stool as it was so high off the ground! I was bathed in the butler sink each night till about 6 yrs old & only 'guests' were permitted to use the upstairs loo when the landlord converted one of the bedrooms.
I was talking to me muvva only the other day & said I can still remember her c0-0p divi number. And what about those Cl@rks sandals with the white spongy soles that you had new for Easter church services & the summer term at school :rotfl:I was lucky enough to require NHS spex & so wish Harry Potter had been around then, & also recall the baby blue trike Mum used to bring to school for me to ride home....aww ..tis good to look back, but oh-so-comfy doing it with the comfort of your own selective 21stC devices around you

nannaC

maryb wrote: »

one of the joys of getting older is that you feel free to be much bolshier than you would have dared when you were young and wanted everyone to like you

When I am an old woman I shall wear purple

As people who have tried to cross/bully my family have found out. And I LOVE purple, always have worn it as it clashes beautifully with my strawberry blond/redish hair, like cerise for the same reason although I cannot wear yellow [look like a BIG BANANA]. Bought me theeeee most beautiful large vintage brooch last weekend, very celtic pinchbeck with a huge faux amethyst, got it from a jewellery dealer friend and a real bargain, even though it was not a lot of money, I had saved up and this made it really special.

Sorry if this reply is a bit late have been busy this week and am still catching up with posts

missychrissy

I too can remember my mum's coop divi number. I forget things that happened yesterday but the divi no is in my brain forever.

I can also remember my dad's car registration from when I was under 10. Can't remember the nos of the cars that I have owned, only the present one.

charlies-aunt

;)I remember our Co-op div number - 211411- we used to get little tiny receipts from the breadvan eveytime we bought our bread

Mum cashed the divi in every Christmas to order extra on her order from the Co-op, which was delivered every week and the order list for following week was collected. All food was delivered - butchers van came twice a week, fishman every friday, milkman everydaynd once a week in summer - the ice cream van.

Not posh - we lived in a tiny village in rural Lincolnshire, no car, no bus and ten miles to the nearest shop so the 'vans' were relied on for all our needs. Shopping was a major expedition which had to be planned like a military operation

No horse and cart but a big immaculately kept bread van called 3 times a week with bread, breadbuns and a small selection of sweet pastries - all unsliced and unwrapped. The breadman would pull out long wooden trays full of bread out of the racking inside his van so you could choose exactly which ones you wanted. The breadman expertly wrapped each loaf in a flimsy sheet of paper for you to take home.

Gorgeous bread!

Hard times occasionally but happy memories!

ginnyknit

Maryb you go for it girl wear purple if you want - Im a 50 year old goth and may look a little like Queen Victoria nowadays but love my gear and am held in great respect by my 300 strong group of goths.

I was very fed up when I came on here tonight, we have hardly been out of the house this week cos we have no money but have acheived a few positive things along the way. But reading this thread cheered me up no end! I remember donkey stoning the back step and waiting for the rag and bone man. We didnt have an inside loo till i got married. Yes some hard times and bloody hard work but we just got on with it like we do now. I also loved going, at the age of 12, to do the families laundry for my Mum at the local wash house. Now that was really tough work but a gang of us went together and had a laugh pushing a pram full of washing about 2 miles coming home damp, tired and full of a luxurious portion of chips which you could balance on the pram!

I now feel very guilty at living in virtual luxury compared to those days but I still have no money !!!!