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10:08:00 o'clock GMT
Parallel Universes
One of the nice things about marrying later in life is that we have a whole life-time of experiences to share with one another. My husband and I are both post World War II babies. While the states were booming after the war, England suffered with Reconstruction and a depression.
Last night, while watching telly, we got on the subject of ice pops, of all things. I never remember a time when we didn't have a refrigerator in our house. The first one I recall, as a very small child, was short and had a tiny little shoebox sized freezer. E told me last night that he didn't have a refrigerator in his house until he was around eight years old! I couldn't believe my ears! He told me that no one had them at that time that he knew of in his seaside city. You could have knocked me over with a feather! I sputtered and gasped and asked him how in the world did he keep the milk cold, meat fresh, etc.???? He told me that the milk was kept in a bucket of cold water. Of course, two pints were delivered every day. The milk float still comes through our neighbourhood today and delivers milk in glass bottles over here - same thing.
E talked about a woman that had the rarity of a refrigerator where he visited his cousin. She sold ice pops that she made in her tiny freezer and sold them for 1p. The kids were mad for them.
Then we moved on to discuss his mother's wash house. It was a building in the back garden next to the building that housed the toilet. For you in the states that read this, please know that the toilet flushed just like the ones indoors but the toilet building generally wasn't heated and often didn't have electricity either. Anyways, the wash house held the copper that had a gas pipe underneath it that was turned on and the water was heated that way. His mother had big tongs to swoosh the laundry around in the water and then lift into the wringer.
I talked about my mother having a double wringer washer and the hot water came from the hot water tank. No such thing as a hot water tank in my husband's house. The copper was brought into the kitchen and water put into it and everyone took a bath. More gasps from me. It always amazes me how E can take a sponge bath from the sink without blinking an eye. For me, it is a very frustrating thing to do and I avoid it if I can.
E told me about the day that he came home from school and his mother had a new washing machine installed in the kitchen. It was a very big deal. I believe it was similar to the one above but with a tub beside it that would spin the water out rather than the wringer. Eventually the first refrigerator arrived in the kitchen too.
So it came to me that while he was getting his first refrigerator I was enjoying our newest refrigerator that made ice cubes all by itself. Now I understand why Americans have such a love affair with ice and Europeans don't. To this day, refrigerators over here are small, compact affairs, many with substantials drawers. I recall having two "side by side" refrigerators - one for upstairs in the kitchen and one in the basement for more food used less often -soda and the like. No wonder the Brits are miles ahead of the states in living ecologically friendly lives. Even today, the under the counter, front loading washers here, take only about three liters of water to wash a load of clothes. Amazing!
So E and I continue to discover more and more about each other and why we preceive as we do. Lots to think about!
Written by susanebunn Blog about this entry |
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what no microwave??lol! I love to learn about the old days! Beckie x
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i love reading this stuff...i remember my mum had one of those wringers....we had an outside loo until we moved when i was 3..no bath either...thanks for trip down memory lane...
Lyn
http://journals.aol.com/ukgal36/Britsblog/ -
Hi Susie, don't faint, but I finally got here! That entry brought back such memories for me. When I was about 9, we moved into our own house and the toilet was outside! We had to take a candle or torch out with us and I was in constant terror of spiders! Then we went posh and had one built into a porch. Our bathroom when we moved in was in the kitchen and had a board over it to use as a worktop! And a sink with one cold tap in it! sheeesh! My dad soon got that out and built a bathroom on although it went off of our dining room. Coal fires which took ages to warm up.But we loved it anyway! love Linda x x
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This was interesting as I had not realised we were so far behind you with gadgets! I can remember my mum's first washing machine and the boiler she had before. It was then relegated to the conservatory and came out once a year to boil up the Xmas puds!! Congrats on your permanent residency. What a relief! Love Conniexx
19/01/08 22:51
Linda xx.
http://journals.aol.co.uk/lin