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Housing : Living conditions

ChrisM, no apology re length, in fact i thought,,,too short as i enjoyed reading your post so much,
your writing is superb, the mixture of phlegmatic to melancholic yet reaching to sanguine dreams and hopes
for the future, indeed a future if there was to be one for all involved including the absent one,, the truth beautifully written.
Well done Chris,,,,,, John

ps No apology for my words used as they are fine words deserving of praise for a fine post,,,, J
 
ChrisM you bought a lump to my throat! I was born after the War and for various reason I hate shutting curtains so the part about putting up the blackouts for another evening really hit me. I have an air-raid shelter in the garden and the thought of having to be shut in there fills me with fear!! (Yes I know the bombs would have been worse!).
This thread is reminding me of Nan's house, and all those of my Aunties, hard-up but cosy and fairly happy.
rosie.
 
I aplaud the piece and it is indeed very well written invoking visions of the times. However I suspect that for many; maybe most, of us back then a semi with an indoor bathroom and tub and possibly a semblance of hot running water would have been un-dreamed of. Un-dreamed of because none we knew had them either. Our experiences of this, otherwise maybe ordinaire happenstance elsewhere, was limited to the picture's; where one viewed kitchens that were larger than ones whole house all together. Followed by the walk home in the drizzle past a whole army of dreary corner pubs. I suspect that many of those whole abodes had no hallway because the whole width of the unit was required for a room and passing through the house would have required only going from room to room...front to back. A semblance of hallway in the back kitchen alongside the staircase to the bedrooms. Inside this space would have been again a semblance of a pantry...under the stairs with no light, only a shelf...forget refridgeration or icebox. Needless to say, grocery shopping was done frequently by your mother..on foot..with a shopping bag and often in the rain.
All of this being out of sync. somehow, at the centre of the universe. Whilst I can applaude the stories of family warmth that brushed such mean circumstances aside and managed to triumph over it; I think the circumstances are not something to remember fondly unless todays realities are worse. Maybe they are.
 
Thanks to members for their (embarrassingly) kind words. Surely there are other memories to be recoded here? Let's be having them!!

Chris
 
I've just been thinking of what it was like to "go outside" before the bathroom was put on in 1958. Awful in the snow, cold and draughty with spiders, no window, and no lock on the door!

The electric light switch was in the kitchen and my brother used to turn it off "by accident" then turn it on when he heard the scream. there was a lovely big wooden seat which was like a plank with a hole in,

and Dad mended the back gate with it when no longer needed! The cistern was up high with a chain which usually needed a good pull! There was a kelly lamp to stop it freezing in winter.

rosie.
 
One of the things I remember is the cellar, where the coalman used to tip the cole or coke in through a top just under the window.Also the way the windows had sah cords and my mom used to sit on the window ledge upstairs to clean the outside
 
Alana, you just couldnt imagine that today could you sitting on the ledge and leaning out backwards to clean the outside of your windows.
 
Chris say's he used to listen to ITMA, my Dad calls me "Fumph" and i only just realized where it came from
[video=youtube;2j0iztvm3qE]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2j0iztvm3qE[/video]
Zenith radio..
Zenith_cube_radio.jpg
 
Ooh Carolina! I guess it was that dreadful Izal! My husband says they had newspaper squares, and he used to read in there by the light of his Dad's bike-lamp! Theirs must have been bigger than ours.

The lean-to was next to it where the coal went, I liked sorting out the big pieces from the slack and one day found some pyrites (fools gold) and I ran into the house to show Dad thinking we were going to be

rich!!!

rosie.
 
Ho I remember those days when in the dark shivering, hoping agiant spiderw as't going to come near but feeling the warmth of the wooden seat, when out of the darkness wuld come ,"whose in there", from next door, an then talking about the "Villa", or school in the darkness, what fun.
paul
 
I always had one carolina, ha,ha, when in the army the "half doors" on the loo's did take a bit of getting use to though.!!
paul
 
Remember these ? We had a white unit trimmed with red. Ours had single taps, not a mixer tap. The cold water tap had a removable rubber spout attached to the end, I think, so that you could direct the flow of water. We had a red plastic sink protector and red washing up bowl too. And we had a white wire drainer. In the summer we'd always throw the used water on the garden. (Today called 'grey water'). Viv.

image.jpeg
 
to be honest viv my sink unit is identical except that the sink and drainer are the other way round so unless i have not caught up with the times they have not gone out of fashion:D

lyn
 
What is the date of that advert? Just thinking how expensive it was. We moved into a council house in 1960 and the previous occupant had fitted one like that. The norm was the Belfast sink and draining board.

PS you kept the wash boiler under the draining board, behind a curtain.
 
The first post on this thread mentions a table and chairs in the kitchen. Our 1930s house kitchen had only a sink, a Creda electric cooker and a pantry, later blocked up with one of those larder units installed. Absolutely no room for anything else in there. When people say 'no room to swing a cat' that was exactly our kitchen. Size wise, it must have been no more than 8' or 9' sq. We didn't have a fridge until the 1970s and never had a washing machine. No room to put one!

Looking back I can't think how we managed without a fridge. But I suppose mum bought food day to day. And washing was done by hand with larger items taken to the laundrette.

Seems odd these days to think that cookers could be hired as per this ad for Creda cookers. Good to see they were made in Brum.
image.jpeg

Viv.
 
News to me that you could hire cooker, but not surprised. I know you could hire washing machines, my mom used to. A man in a van would bring round these little hover single tub machines that my mom would set up in the kitchen.
 
This is the cooker I learned to cook on. Have to say it was a great cooker. Some people didn't like electric, but I loved it. I think one of the benefits claimed was it was 'clean' cooking.

Doubt today cookers ever reach the 'veteran stage'. Seems if you have a new kitchen, you now replace all the appliances. Viv.

image.jpeg
 
I do remember that particular cooker, I think it was my aunt who had one. I was fascinated by the hot plates and how it worked. I think the square one was over the grill?


There were some very well built gas cookers around, but unfortunately did not lend themselves to conversion to natural gas.


A great piece of cooking equipment, built to last, and did so. I have an AGA. A cooker you own for life too.
 
Oh yes, we had the cream/yellow Swan iron in the photo. Also had a wooden ironing board and wooden clothes horse. Our clothes horse (gate style) was replaced with a wooden concertina one in the late 1960s. The ironing board frequently had to have the material cover replaced (homemade, not ready made) because we all used to rest the iron on it for too long and burnt iron-shaped holes in it - right through to the padding underneath. Viv.
 
We had one of those Creda cookers from #28 - my first ever little cakes cooked in that!! I love electric cookers - when I got married the kitchen had an old gas cooker - it was the first thing to go as I had no idea how to use it.
 
My friend had an all electric house, when she went on holiday the caravan had a Calor gas cooker, she turned it on then went to find a match :eek:struck the match and was blown out of the caravan door by the blast....................She still has an all electric house. :D
 
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