Memories - Page 3 PDF Print E-mail
Written by Clive Horner   
Wednesday, 12 January 2011 11:26
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One thing I have not spoken of are the cans of malted milk and cocoa, these were war surplus. How we came by them I really don’t know, I believe we within the scouts must have had a contact although I don’t know who and that is probably for the best. The cans had a centre core and if you pieced the side then prised off the cap and lit the centre core with a match you would have hot milk or chocolate in less than 2 minutes and it tasted really great. It is one of life’s mysteries where it came from. There is no better way to spend an evening than sitting round a campfire after a hectic and tiring day and believe me after a day out at our age we really were tired by evening and welcomed the chance to relax, I suppose it could be said we led a simple life, happy and we interfered with no one.

I am briefly returning to our way of life as I feel I have skipped a great deal of the serious and fun side of our lives when young, mainly the way we lived. It will be hard for those born in later years to understand the way we lived as today there can be little comprehension of the times we grew up in or the way in which we lived.

We had an outside toilet which was fun (Ha! Ha!) particularly in the depth of winter. Imagine bursting for the toilet and having to walk through the ice and snow to get there and shivering and shaking in the cold Brrr, not very pleasant but normal. In really cold weather the water would freeze and we would have to use a bucket of water to flush the toilet, whoever flushed the toilet would then have to take the bucket into the kitchen and refill it then return it to the toilet ready to be used again. There was no central heating only a coal fire in the sitting room which we would all crowd round, hands held out towards the fire just to find a little more heat if that was possible. I remember being hot in front but my back would be cold and I mean cold. Bath night was Saturday, the zinc bath hung on the garden wall and had to be brought into the kitchen. In the kitchen there was a gas copper (this was for heating the water and had to be filled using a pail, bucket to many of you, the difference between a bucket and pail was that a pail was enamel and a bucket was galvanised which meant the pail was more hygienic) I don’t remember how many times the pail had to be filled at the kitchen sink and emptied into the copper before it was full but it would have been quite a number. The gas ring under the copper was lit and left to heat the water which would take 2 or 3 hours. Whilst the water was heating mum and dad would walk over the bridge into the town to do the shopping, this would happen whatever the weather (rain, snow sleet or hail it made no difference, mum and dad worked Monday to Friday so the weekend was the only time the shopping could be done). Shops back then did not open on a Sunday and there were no fridges or freezers for storing foodstuff. I do remember that there was a meat safe on the garden wall in a position where it was always in the shade. The meat safe was a wooden box with a mesh door to allow air to circulate (maybe it could be said it was the first type of fridge). Once again I am getting side tracked, back to bath night. When mum and dad got back from town mum would put the shopping away and dad would get tea ready After tea he would fill the bath, once again the pail was used and then we would get our weekly bath It was not possible to have clean water for each of us so we would all bath in the same water (when I say all I mean us three children). There was no argument about the order in which we got a bath. Bryan my older brother was always first, I was second and my younger brother Frank was last. I should mention that while we were getting our baths dad would refill the copper so he and mum could get a bath after we had gone to bed. Bath night over dad would clean the bath and hang it back on the garden wall until the next time.



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