Back in time for the weekend.

honeythewitch

Did anyone see it, on BBC2?
It was the same company that made "Back in time for dinner" but it had a different family this time, and it focused a lot on leisure.

I was fascinated by the "diary of expenditure" that they showed, and wondered if anyone keeps one?
Much of the spending was on materials to make or fix things, but now it is often cheaper to buy new, or the materials needed for repair are not available, which is a shame, I think.

PasturesNew

I saw it. Don't forget it's engineered and, while they selected items from the diaries that people had bought ... not every household was buying those things regularly and doing their own.

It's easy to think "oh wouldn't it be lovely", but it wasn't

My dad made us - and our neighbours - our first TVs. Back then they used valves, so we had a shed full of valves and he was always fiddling with the radiogram and back of the telly.

I can still remember when our neighbour invited us round for the official turning on of the telly dad'd made them. The fella was a joiner, so made his own cabinet, dad did all the insides.

honeythewitch

PasturesNew wrote: »

I saw it. Don't forget it's engineered and, while they selected items from the diaries that people had bought ... not every household was buying those things regularly and doing their own.

It's easy to think "oh wouldn't it be lovely", but it wasn't

My dad made us - and our neighbours - our first TVs. Back then they used valves, so we had a shed full of valves and he was always fiddling with the radiogram and back of the telly.

I can still remember when our neighbour invited us round for the official turning on of the telly dad'd made them. The fella was a joiner, so made his own cabinet, dad did all the insides.

:eek: I am absolutely amazed that anyone could make televisions!
That cant have been usual, surely?

Linda32

Me and OH were only saying a couple of days ago about how his Dad used to take their TV to be repaired to a chap who had loads of old TVs stacked up in his garage. He would just rob bits off one to repair another.

PasturesNew

honeythewitch wrote: »

That cant have been usual, surely?

No. It was his day job too ...

McKneff

I thought it was brilliant, it took me way back to my childhood . Especiallt the Coronation party vaguely.A nd carrying my beaker home. I Was 3 and a half .

Angel_Jenny

I loved it! The kitchen was the prettiest thing ever ..... that larder cupboard ......

It was interesting that the roles for the family were so reversed compared to the modern world. And how easily the son took to outdoor activities!

lessonlearned

Great programme. It was like reliving my childhood. Can can underskirts anyone......

I agree though the little boy had the best of it.

I was born 1951 so can remember a lot of it. I think women had it rough....my mum did all that and held down a full time job, working shifts as a bus conductress (clippie).

She must have been some kind of Wonder Woman but that was their lives, women did everything round the house. I can remember the old fashioned mangle, washing on a clothes horse in front of the fire in winter.

. Dad worked two jobs, did all the DIY and decorating, grew their vegetables, repaired everything, even our shoes, Polished everyone's shoes every night.

I am glad I wasn't a wife and mum then, great for us kids, not much fun for the grown ups.

[Deleted User]

I watched and kept remembering all the hard work that my late Mum did around the house.No fridges,freezers,washing machines ,dishwashers ,microwaves,slow cookers etc
It was 1958 before she had a Morphy -Richards electric iron.I remember how pleased she was to get one and it was yellow and black and plugged into the middle light with the double adaptor She used a pair of flat irons on the kitchen range and tested them by spitting (in a very ladylike way ) on the bottom to test the temperature.
She didn't even have an ironing board, and always ironed on an old army blanket with a sheet on top on the table She had been bombed out twice during WW2 and had lost so many things that she just got used to doing without and adapting what she had. Things were hard to get hold of as well and rationing didn't stop until 1954

I can't say I grew up feeling deprived though, as the libraries were free and lots of books to read and we always had the wireless to listen to.

My middle brother made a crystal set from a boxed present my well off aunt had sent him, and we were so excited when he actually turned it on and we heard music coming from it .

My eldest brother made a wind-up gramophone and used to make me toys from bits of wood I had a lovely dolls house made out of orange box wood one year for Christmas, and I was thrilled to bits with it as no one else at school had a brother as clever as my one was.:)
If it was dry you played outside and if wet you stayed indoors playing cards or Ludo or snakes and ladders. I learned to knit, and also read before I went to school as my mum wanted us all to read well.

No electronic games in those days, but my brothers would try to make lots of things My middle brother Davy who is 75 next week I can remember him making modal airplanes out of balsa wood and tissue paper
what you didn't have you didn't miss at all and most children were in the same boat anyway so 'trainers' were school plimsolls :)and you only had 'sunday best for church or going out(that didn't happen that often either)

Holidays were usually at relations houses and as my parents came from Scotland it was a very long journey on a coach from Victoria coach Station to Glasgow or Edinburgh on an SMT coach with the most exciting thing I had seen on a bus a toilet :):) and was planned months in advance.We did have an Uncle who lived in Herne Bay and owned a market garden and I loved visiting him as we came home in the summer with as many strawberries as we could pick.
There seemed to be less of a keeping-up-with-the-Jones in those days as there were few who wanted to anyway

[Deleted User]

Angel_Jenny wrote: »

It was interesting that the roles for the family were so reversed compared to the modern world.

That is quite possibly why women my age can do such a lot of old style make do and mend. I was the oldest and a girl with six siblings so my childhood was pretty well over by 9, by then I could sew a skirt on a sewing machine, wash a floor and make a cake by myself. At 11 I could cook a family meal for 9 in the pressure cooker. At 13 I could cook hm fish and chips for 9 using a pan of fat and starting with batter. No one hovering over me, I was safe.At 15 I needed a party dress for a school party, so I knitted one. The washing machine, when it came was wonderful, before that I had to help with a bath full of washing soaked in cold water overnight

I did get to play out but my two younger brothers had it so easy. I would not say I loved my childhood but I learnt so much, which has made a success of my life as an adult

catkins

I really enjoyed the programme. I loved the larder unit in the kitchen. I used to have one of those when I first left home and would like one again but OH hates them. I think kitchens then had far more character than they do now.


Although it was normal to me and my siblings, it seems my parents were unconventional. My dad helped a lot with housework and often used to cook.