What would my Granny think of OS?

lil_me

My kids were in terry nappies too, apart from if someone else was looking after them, they are 6 and 8. Some parents look mortified when I tell them but a good friend of mine has picked up on it and been asking what she needs to use terry nappies for her baby when it arrives

Aril

I love this thread. My Nana was born in 1903 and was a strange combination. She left school at the age of 12, bought up 3 children and drove taxis during the war. After she was widowed she remarried a Covent Garden gardener so they had a large veg patch and orchard. She always made quince jelly which my Dad has continued to make. She cooked with brisket and always used to make sweetbreads for my Dad as a child. I never saw her without anything to do...in later years she made soft toys which she sold at the weekly WI market. However, in some respects she definitely wasn't OS. She chucked out every stick of furniture after the war she told me because she wanted the latest in thing and she would always take the car in preference to walking. She embraced new technology and was the first in the family to have a microwave. She used to have some classic sayings like that chap's fingernails are so dirty you could grow peas under them and a few other ones that best not repeat here!!
Aril

Mrs_Flittersnoop

This is such a great thread! My granny was born in 1901 and made do and mended all her life. She didn't get a fridge until she was 80! and I can't remember her ever having a washing machine at all. All her food was kept in a larder, including the milk (which I used to hate, as by the time it got to the table it had generally 'turned' a bit) and every scrap of food was eaten. She used to make the most gorgeous blackcurrant jam, I can't eat it now without thinking of her.

She also used to cut down clothes to make children's clothes, apparently during the war she was well known for it and all the neighbours used to turn up with worn out trousers for her to transform into smaller versions for their children.

I can remember staying with her in the winter when she had a big range-y thing in her back room where she dried all her washing, and warming our vests on the top of it because every other room in the house was unheated and going to bed was like an Arctic expedition!

I've planted marigolds this year in my garden because they remind me of her, she had rows of them in her back yard. I really miss my granny, she was the world to me.

Mrs F x

sammy_kaye18

Mrs_Flittersnoop wrote: »

the house was unheated and going to bed was like an Arctic expedition!

Jeez visiting the bathroom in my grandmothers house use to terrify me for fear of getting frozen to it if nothign else!

That quote totally reminds me of my nana Dolly though. I remember she had three bedrooms in her house. Hers, and two spare rooms, one which use to house everything she used - her spinner, tub etc and the other one as a basic spare bedroom. whenever we stayed I can clearly remember me (about 7) my little sister (about 4) and my mother all sleeping in one bed purely so we had body heat and we had our clothes laid out on top of the bed as extra layers!!!!!!! She only had a wood burner/fire in the living room and her cooker/argor(sp?) thing in the kitchen.

Lol Thanks to my nana Dollys house me and my sister are now quite efficient in getting dressed UNDER the bed clothes!!!

= )

sammy_kaye18

Mrs_Flittersnoop wrote: »

the house was unheated and going to bed was like an Arctic expedition!

Jeez visiting the bathroom in my grandmothers house use to terrify me for fear of getting frozen to it if nothign else!

That quote totally reminds me of my nana Dolly though. I remember she had three bedrooms in her house. Hers, and two spare rooms, one which use to house everything she used - her spinner, tub etc and the other one as a basic spare bedroom. whenever we stayed I can clearly remember me (about 7) my little sister (about 4) and my mother all sleeping in one bed purely so we had body heat and we had our clothes laid out on top of the bed as extra layers!!!!!!! She only had a wood burner/fire in the living room and her cooker/argor(sp?) thing in the kitchen.

Lol Thanks to my nana Dollys house me and my sister are now quite efficient in getting dressed UNDER the bed clothes!!!

= )

Queenie

Hardup_Hester wrote: »

Queenie, the clothes dryer was called a Flatley, my mum & dad had one as we lived in an upstairs maisonette, mum used to put it on at night & we'd leave the bedroom doors open to let the warmth spread.
Hester

Oooh yes, that was it!!! For the life of me I couldn't remember the name, so thank you

dianadors - Pobs!! Even fed it to my eldest 3 children when they were little. Mentioned it here on mse a while back and someone remarked "Sounds vile!" :laugh: My mother didn't swear but would sometimes come out with "Oh blow pobs!" and it's something I picked up. Of course *these* days, sometimes people think they have misheard and it no longer sounds quite as innocent as it used to :whistle: Maybe that's simply because people don't eat pobs anymore.

balmaiden

Just read in todays Sunday Express, " Grandma was right, we should be eating bread and dripping.

Its telling us what all OSers know, that home cooking is better than ready meals and Granny really did know best.!!!

organic_wanabe

unixgirl, when we built our new kitchen and utility room about 4 years ago, I was adamant that I was having a pulley (much to the Edinburgh architect's horror). I love it and couldn't be without it now! When my friend saw how useful it was, she made sure she put one in, then another friend did the same.

rosieben

What great stories on this thread, I've really enjoyed reading them, thanks all for sharing!

I was born in 1949, youngest of 8, and I remember tearing up newspaper, poking a hole through at the top and threading it onto a piece of string to hang on the nail in my Gran's outside loo. And we all used to sit and help make the rag rugs for our bedroom floors.

Mother had a 'copper' boiler - gas lit underneath to heat the water - and a wringer, it was hard work and she used to have us help her by turning the handle whilst she fed the sheets through the rollers - she thought she as in heaven when she got her first twin tub in the early 60's. Mind you, she missed the copper for boiling her christmas puddings in!

In the winter my dad would warm a few clean bricks in the range oven and we would each have one, wrapped in a towel or a pillowcase, for bedtime. My first bedside cabinet was a wooden fruit crate with a middle divider. Dad planed and painted it, turned in on end, and nailed a piece of 'lino' on the top. I used that for nearly 20 years!!

My gran and my dad were both OS and I wish I could get some more ideas from them both! Dad especially wouldnt waste anything if he could help it but my mum not so interested, she would go for the easier option if she could get away with it!

balmaiden

My Gran had a huge black pot which she filled with water and put on the "range" to boil wash clothes, a local lad was sent to my Grans on an errand, and was facinated by this pot. He asked my Gran "whats in there mrs?" Oh im boiling a sheet replied Gran, on this he hot tailed it home and told his mum dont send me to mrs.... again shes a witch with a black pot on the range boiling a sheep!!
mind you I think she probably would have boiled a sheep in there if she could have fitted it in!!