Could we all travel back to the old times?

lightisfading

Just had to pop in to raise my hand as another young'un (24) who's trying to be OS We're not *all* shallow imbeciles you know

Fair enough I can't sew (did textiles at school, and all they taught us were useless projects with no connection to the real world - and 'fashion' design ugh!) - but I think everyone has something they're just not good at! I cook most things from scratch, recycle, grow my own, have never had a car, couldn't give a monkeys about fashion labels, makeup or £100 miracle creams. It probably helps that I grew up in a very low income family, I remember regularly popping to the small shop down the road where they would sell a couple of eggs rather than a box, individual 'basic' style loo rolls for 10p, etc.

Mind you I'd hate to give up heating - cold makes me really miserable and apart from anything else makes an old injury of mine flare up. I could quite easily live without my mobile though. The internet - probably not. Given I grew up in the 90s it's a valuable resource which I use for everything, plus it makes talking to friends far away a lot easier!

fizzel81

Interesting thread.

i was born in 1981 and getting there more than i was (os wise) i do agree we now have a chuckaway/waste lifestyle around us.
as a child i grew up in a 3 bed council house (made of breeze blocks, they have just! been pulled down) no one had any upstairs heating, just a gas fire in the front room but i do vaguely remeber a coal fire.

our bedroom as kids (2 girls 2 boys) we all shared the same room, was the middle room above the front room in the hope it was a bit warmer than the rest of the house, i remember silverfish was quite a common site under the carpets and by the front door, when it rained the damp would come up through the area by the front door, remember 50p meters for the elec and if it run out and there was no 50p on the mantle that was it till morning when some more change could be got, we never had ready meals or anything just popped in the oven, it was cooked each day, and there was also a very big copper bottomed pan with chicken soup that could then be reheated. not sure i would even want to go back that far, i do think we have it a little easier now.

the house as i said i lived in as a child was pulled down last year and the whole area re built they were due down when i was a child as economically it was worth installing centeral heating, double glazeing or really doing alot to them at all.

my 1st house when i was married (was a ni posting) had a coal fire and a pump for pumping the hot water around the house for the radiators and single glazed windows (this was 2001-2002) as its only form of heating, each house also had a sinlge plug in elec rad (which i was too worried to use) i guess when i got a flat with centeral heating, double gazeing etc on my next posting i was in heven and made the most of it, elec was shared between 6 flats so the cost didnt hugely worry us as it was also take out ex dh wages before he was paid, im learning the harder way now having heating on at 22 all day, day in day out on top of other house applances has taught me a harsh lesson

i could live without my mobile phone but not my washing machine or my fridge or freezer

moanymoany

Justamum wrote: »

You are joking aren't you? I certainly wouldn't want to go back to times like that thanks. Once a week baths, wearing clothes for a fortnight before washing them, no deodorants. The smell doesn't bear thinking about. Mind you if everybody did the same then nobody would notice anybody else's smell I suppose as their own would be so strong.

Ah Justamum, I wasn't suggesting actually going back to wearing clothes for a week, then washing them using dolly tub and ponch, rinsing things in the sink - hauling wet sheets about - then putting them through the old mangle that turned into a table, then sitting in a steam filled room as the clothes dried round the fire because it was raining outside.

However, reading this thread had already made me think back, I really don't remember smelly people. It's all to do with expectation and what your used to! I do remember round slightly padded pieces of cloth that press studded to the underarms of garments. My gran made them and there were always several in the wash.

ps - having a bath once a week... blimey we weren't that posh! Luxury that was...

Justamum

moanymoany wrote: »

Ah Justamum, I wasn't suggesting actually going back to wearing clothes for a week, then washing them using dolly tub and ponch, rinsing things in the sink - hauling wet sheets about - then putting them through the old mangle that turned into a table, then sitting in a steam filled room as the clothes dried round the fire because it was raining outside.

However, reading this thread had already made me think back, I really don't remember smelly people. It's all to do with expectation and what your used to! I do remember round slightly padded pieces of cloth that press studded to the underarms of garments. My gran made them and there were always several in the wash.

ps - having a bath once a week... blimey we weren't that posh! Luxury that was...

Phew! You had me worried there!!! What is a ponch? Is it the stick thingy that was used to swish the clothes round in the dolly tub? I think I've seen a dolly tub (in a museum ) and it seemed a similar idea to a top-loader without the electricity.

rosieben

Justamum wrote: »

... I think I've seen a dolly tub (in a museum ) and it seemed a similar idea to a top-loader without the electricity.

:rotfl:


made me laugh, but I suppose thats exactly what it is - powered by elbow grease instead

I'm old enough to remember my mum using one of these ...

moanymoany

Justamum wrote: »

Phew! You had me worried there!!! What is a ponch? Is it the stick thingy that was used to swish the clothes round in the dolly tub? I think I've seen a dolly tub (in a museum ) and it seemed a similar idea to a top-loader without the electricity.

Let me enlighten you. I spent most of my time with my gran so her washing techniques went back to the first world war. The dolly tub was a metal tub about two feet tall. A ponch is a metal 'dome' with holes in for the water to swoosh through. It was on a pole - similar to a sweeping brush - and the clothes when in the dolly tub were squashed with the ponch. The dollytub stood on the floor. I have seen short ponches for tubs which stood on tables. The ponch acted as a primative agitator. It served the same purpose as a washboard, but it was easier to use. I was about ten before gran replaced her flat irons with an electic iron in the light socket jobby.

The stick was used to lift the clothes out of the copper where they were boiled.

http://www.oldandinteresting.com/washing-dollies.aspx This will give you some idea.

Our ponch was a smart copper affair.

Our first washing machine was so big it took up half the kitchen. We got it in the early 60's it was at least second hand. It was a much easier job. Also it had an electric wringer which saved my weak rickety childs arms much effort. (cue the violins)

Museum - pshaw!!!!!

Olliebeak

moanymoany wrote: »

I remember my gran using a dolly tub and ponch to wash the clothes. The water was heated in a gas copper which was her luxery item and came with the council house.

What I do remember is none of this cissy 'clean clothes every day' thing. We wore things for a week, turned them inside out, beat off the solids and wore them for another week. Having to wash everything by hand sharpened the mind wonderfully when it came to things like that.

Who remembers moving from flat irons to the 'plug in the light socket' jobbie? Those irons had no thermostat, it was a real skill. All the ironing was sprayed with water, using the fingers, then rolled and put in the basket to wait its turn. We listened to the wireless while doing it.

The funny thing is, my gran (who I spent most of my time with) did everything by hand. But, in the afternoons she had time to sit and sew, knit or embroider while listening to the wireless. She had an active social life and went out two or three times a week to clubs. In 1960 she lived and kept house on £4.10shillings a week. It was very little even then, but she was never in debt. From time to time she took in lodgers. When the panto came to town she took in the actors - we got free tickets. I always think of her as my 'old style guru'.

Happy New year Everybody :beer:

ermmmmmm are we sisters, moanymoany?

I grew up living with my grandparents and the 'plug-in-the-light-socket iron' was part and parcel of my life (usually on a Tues - or Wed when the weather was bad and things took longer to be dried!). The light used to swing all over the place with the motion of ironing; casting weird shadows around the room - bit like the final scene of Psycho! The iron flex even plugged into the back of the iron as well (great big flat, black plug with brass prongs!).

Grandad used to light the fire under the copper before going to work so that the water was hot for when Gran got up at 7.30. (He used to light the living room fire and then carry some burning coals - on a little shovel - to the copper and put some more coal and coke on top of that fire). I used to help out with the laundry in the school holidays and was well used to using the washboard, posser, dolly-peg and mangle from around the age of 8. I used to struggle with the pulley for the outside washing line and often the line would come off the pulley wheels - had to try to get it back on again using the prop as the top wheel was about 8 or 9 feet off the floor! We used to clean the outside of the upper windows by sitting on the outside window-ledge with our legs inside the window and pull the upper window down onto your thighs, clean the window then push it back up again and bring the other one back down again to clean that - dangerous business! I also remember having 'palliasses' on the beds (soft mattresses with flock filling that went lumpy during the night and had to be pummelled back into shape when making the beds).

Grandma's washing machine (bought for her by my uncle in 1964) was a Hotpoint Countess (oops no it was the Empress!) with a wringer on top! I suppose you could call it 'automatic' - it automatically started when you pressed the red button and automatically stopped when you pressed the black button - lol! AND it heated up the water as well - she thought she was the queen of england on the day it arrived! It was one of these:

http://www.automaticwasher.org/TD/ARCHIVE/VINTAGE/2007/10309x23.htm

moanymoany

Ollibeak, this looks the same as the one we had. Ours - as far as I can remember - was green, but otherwise the twin. Washing was certainly not easy, but we had nowhere like the number of clothes we have now. Just like now, the more people in the household the more washing.

After my grandfather died in 1926 - when my mother was 2 years old, my gran took in washing, as well as doing other small jobs, to make ends meet. I think that many people had their washing done if they could afford it. Gran did the washing for people who lived locally, so still working class, but with just enough money not to have to do it themselves. It wasn't ironed. My Aunty told me that she remembered the kitchen always full of washing. As she was the eldest, she had to help. No welfare state then!

Did your grandmother save her used, wet, tealeaves to sprinkle on the carpet before brushing with a hand brush. I realised later that it kept the dust down.

Olliebeak

Yes, moanymoany, grandmother did the tealeaves thing as well - lol!

At one stage, when grandad was on strike for a couple of weeks, she used the water from soaking the potatoes to starch his collars!

Although I grew up in the 50's, it was more like the 30's because I don't think she had changed her ways from when first married - apart from having a tv from 1956 (grandad thought they were a waste of money while there was only the one channel!).

This is, more or less, the cooker that we had until 1963 - think ours had a temperature indicator on the outside of the door though - it could be regulated a bit by sliding the little button thing to the left or right (or the switch labelled low/med/high). How the heck did Grandma ever manage to cook a Christmas Dinner for 6 on that?

http://www.scienceandsociety.co.uk/results.asp?image=10240086&wwwflag=2&imagepos=4

[Deleted User]

I was born in 1948, the eldest of 7 children with a dad who worked so very hard to put a few pence on the table, he missed one day of work, was self-employed and worked until the late hours 6 days a week. 9 people in a corner terraced house with a small yard. One fire downstairs and a clothes airer attached to the ceiling.

I was the oldest girl and so I had to do my fair share of work. By 10 I could sew a skirt and by 11 cook a full meal in a pressure cooker. I can remember freezing cold hands when taking the weeks washing out of the cold water in the bath where they had been soaking all night.

People were generally so kind to us. They could see that our dad was a hard-working man and they sometimes used to give us a bag of second hand clothes.

Pigs head was a good meal in the winter, after christmas when there was just no money

We children discovered the library and we read a lot and we played outside a lot. We worked hard at school and all 7 of us ended up in professions. We all married and we are are still married to the same people. My parents example rubbed off, it was about the family pulling together

I can remember lots of things:
washing that was frozen hard as cardboard
changing clothes once a week
a bucket of hm STs soaking under the bath
feet that were frozen in the snow. We did not have boots
Dressing up for bed
my mum endlessly knitting and all 7 dressed in hm clothes when we went to church on sunday
sitting on an upstairs window ledge to clean the outside of the sash windows
one bath for one after the other, once a week
a small paraffin heater in the outside toilet in the depths of winter
newspaper squares for toilet paper

I could go on and on but one good thing was the ambition to aim for a comfortable life as we got older and a money safety net in case there was any slippage backwards