[guide.chat] Coal Fires and Gaslight Part One

  • From: "Elizabeth Kay" <ebeth.kay@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: "Guide.chat" <guide.chat@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Sat, 19 Jan 2013 14:57:33 -0000

I have nostalgic memories of the small cottage in which I  was born in 1918 and 
in which I lived for the first ten years of my life along with my parents anf 
two brothers. We had to move when my mother was expecting the eldest of my 
three sisters because it was obvious we were going to need more room. The 
cottage had four rooms, two up and two down and was situated inthe middle of a 
short row on what was then a remote spot of the A6 when there was hardly any 
traffic about. It was like living in the country with miles of farmland around 
us.

When I look back this seems like an idyllic time of my life but how could this 
have been when we had not one of the modern conveniencs we expect today. No 
bathroom or inside toilet, no hot water or central heating and no electricity. 
What we did have was a coal fire , gaslight and oil lamps and a lavatory down 
at the bottom of the garden. Water was boiled in a big iron kettle supplemented 
with a large iron pan on bath night when the tin bath was brought up from the 
cellar and put on the rag rug in front of the fire.

When you think about it there would not have been much point in us having 
electricity. Television and radio along with washing machines, electric ovens, 
vacuun cleaners,
irons, kettles, blow heaters, microwaves,computors  telephones and all the 
other thigs requiring plugs and sockets were not in existence in our lives. 
Some had not even been invented. There is a saying that what you never have you 
never miss and this was certainly the case with us.

 A coal fire burning brightly in an old fashioned grate might not have have 
warmed every corner of the room but it was lovely to sit in front of on a 
winter evening and you could toast your bread or crumpets on a long toasting 
fork held in front of the glowing embers. However it was my father who had to 
get up to rake out the ashes and get the fire going  before setting off for 
work in the coal mine and my mother who had to blacklead the grate and get rid 
of the dust the coal fire created not to mention the arguments that ensued when 
the fire needed replenishing with coal from the bunker outside when the coal 
skuttle was empty and needed to be refilled.

An old coat, hung behind the kitchen door, was there to slip over your head and 
shoulders when a call to nature demanded a visit to the closet at the bottom of 
the garden. Torn up newspapers skewered and strung up on a nail took the place 
of toilet paper.There were of course chamber pots in every bedroom. Emptying 
them was another of a housewive's chores usually carried out at the same time 
as the beds were "made". Flock mattresses had to be shaken up and smoothed out 
and sheets, blankets and quilts replaced, every day. 

Washing day would take up several paragraphs to describe.Suffice it to say that 
coal fired boilers, dolly tubs, washing boards, scrubbing brushes and mangles 
took the place of washing machines for many decades. I have no doubt many older 
people will have had experience of these in their lives.

Ironing was done using either a flat iron heated in front of the fire or a box 
iron which opened to have a red hot heater inserted. This was heated in the hot 
embers of the fire and lifted out with a poker. Carpets were cleaned on hands 
and knees with a stiff brush and the kitchen floor mopped in a similar fashion 
with a rag mop. It was considered lazy to use a long mop. The outside lavatory 
had to be cleaned as well and door steps an window sills donkey stoned.

It would take much longer to describe everything that labour saving devices 
have now banished.

No wonder women did not go out to work in those days. Housewives probably 
worked longer hours than their husbands who went out to earn the money to pay 
the rent and buy the necessities of life and this was regarded as their role. 
It was not to be expected that even washing up should fall to them. Fortunately 
some were more enlightened than others and I am glad to say that my father was 
one of these.He helped around the house whenever he could and also made the 
best rice pudding and toasted cheese I have ever tasted. He took my brothers 
and me on excursions to the zoo and the fireworks display at Belle Vue and to 
the fairground in wakes week. He also mended our shoes and clogs whem they got 
worn down. I thought my parents were the best that ever lived and could not 
have wished for anything more.

I have not told you how  we coped without fridges and freezers and also TV and 
Chat Forums but that can wait for another time.  Best wishes to all those 
interested. Love from Elizabeth.

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  • » [guide.chat] Coal Fires and Gaslight Part One - Elizabeth Kay