General Chat

Hello to you all,Memories of Washing day,
We had a copper boiler In which my mother used to cut up the sunshine soap and drop it in the sheets were always done on a Saturday when dad was home so that he could wring the sheets out for mum she was only a little women short also. the nappies were soaked then boiled in a big drum on the wood stove each day .Mum had 5 babies,so there was a lot of washing but we always changed our school clothes as soon as we got home into our yard clothes which we wore for several days, THE YOUNG ONE'S WHO WEREN'T AT SCHOOL CHANGED MORE OFTEN. Mum always made sure we had clean undies each day.
We also bathed in a metal tub in front of the stove and it was many years before we had electricity I was about 13yrs old before our little town had electricity connected .
We had a kerosene refrigerator for many rears after the power was connected, and our DUNNY was way up the back and was emptied once a week we didn't have a bathroom we cleaned our teeth in the sink and then the water was put on mum's garden .
Can anyone remember the Carbide lanterns?


I was married in 1962 I had my 23rd birthday 6 days after we married.
all my babies wore cotton nappies and I have never had a dryer ! my husband would not buy me one , we lived in Victoria when I had all my children and the winters were wet and freezing but I had several clothes Airers which were always in front of the open wood fires , my husband never lit the fire in the morning I had to do that , so our house was very cold in the morning so I used to boil the electric jug and fill a couple of hot water bags so the children could warm themselves while I got their breakfast .
The town we lived in was called Colac. I was very pleased when we left there.
Huia I was sorry to read that one of your ancestors head stones had been destroyed, not enough time or effort such as camera's are used to catch these people it is the same here in Aust. they get away with it.
Caz I hope your scans give you a good result , thinking of you
.
I am pleased to here that you have had some rain & I hope your snow has abated our Rain seems to have gone for how long I dont know.

Thinking of Mo, Liz, Sallie, Sylvia, Ann,Linda Jean , Tess & Joyce
Love to you all,
Marie.

My Mum used a bag of blue to make her whites very white1
I used to love working the mangle, it made me feel quite grown up.
We had a nice long washing line in the back garden, I think that we might have had two props.

The nextdoor neighbour and my my had an agreement, they would get the other persons washing in if they were out when it rained.

We also had a drying rack, with a few short lines, you could pull it up to ceiling level while the clothes were drying. Of course we also had a normal clothes horse as well as somrtimes gaving some clothing on the large fire guard.

Most of the snow in my street has now gone (I have a little in my back garden) Last time I looked it was foggy outside.


My son should be back sometime tomorrow. So I ahve had a nice rest.

My youngest grandson phoned me this morning to say Hi, it was great to hear from him. He can be very stubborn , I just don't know where he gets it from!!!

Ladies, I hope that all your aches and pains go away for a long holiday and maybe forget to come back. Hve a good nights sleep, all of you, whereever you are.

Tess

Hi Sylvia,

We also had one of those wooden racks, and like your mum my mother would put the washing on it to dry and then to air off the ironed clothes.

The gas boiler we had, had a mangle so it must have been a big help to my mother and my nan. They also had a long stick to prod the clothes in the boiler.

Most people around this area still have the long clothes line with a prop, including us. I think the clothes dry better on that than they do on a rotary
line.

When we had a bathroom made by knocking down the dividing wall between the pantry and the outside toilet which was at the side of the house, it was wonderful. We then got our hot water from the back boiler behind the fire. We didn't have an immersion heater until much later, and as you said, it was expensive to use.


If you all don't see me for a couple of days, it's because I don't have anymore to say, as I think I've said all today. lolol!!!

Speak to you all soon.


Love, Sallie. xxx

Mo

re the "intimate apparel"

it wasn't drafts that I was feeling, but no support of "the girls"


s
xx

Hi all

I'm a 40s baby ........ we had a gas boiler that heated the water to wash the clothes. Mum would use a long wooden stick to pound the clothes around in there. Then she'd have to wring them out by hand, and either hang them out on lines in the backyard or across the back lane. Remember the clothes prp to raise the lines up so clothes and sheets wouldn't drag on the gorund?

................. but we also had a wooden rack in the kitchen that could be raised up to the celing and down again. Clothes would be put on there to dry (or air off after ironing), or on a maiden in front of the fire.

The only water heater was the back boiler behind the fire ..... which could create problems getting hot water in summer.

We didn't have an indoor bathroom, the toilet was at the end of the backyard. My grandparents lived across the road, Granddad was a builder and he had built a bathroom into their house .......... we used to go across there to have a bath. I can remember being carried back home by Mum or Dad, warmly wrapped in a big towel!

When I was 11, we moved to another house, and that had a gas boiler with a mangle ............ Mum thought she was in heaven! Still had the lines that she strung out across the back lane, or the maiden in front of the fire.

It also had an indoor bathroom .... heaven! And it had an immersion heater as well as the back boiler ... so we could have hot water at all times (or at least when Dad would let us switch on the heater!).

Two of the 3 bedrooms also had gas fires, and Dad would light the one in their bedroom as soon as he got up, so it would be nice and warm for Mum. I had the unheated room .............. although they did get an electric fire for me much later. Then I inherited big brother's bedroom, with the other gas fire ..... and Dad would creep in and light the fire for me!

Can anyone remember how "words" were exchanged between neighbours if the lines were put in the wrong place?

Mum rarely got involved in those because wash day in our house was Tuesday ....... she had to work on Mondays. No-one else did their washing on Tuesday.

But sometimes lorries would try to get down the lane.

I got married in 1967 .............. but am a few years older than Sallie!


We had a wooden maiden here for some time in the 70s ...... but the problem with that one was that eventually the wood would leach colour into the clothes, leaving brown stains behind.



sylvia
xxx

Hi again, just arrived back from Jennie's with the washing all done and even some of it's been dried. Wonderful!

Linda, yes Fairy soap was green, but we sometimes had Puritan soap, which was also green. When my brother and I were babies and small children, my mother would always use Pears soap for us.

My children were born in 1982 and 1985, and I always used terry napkins on them, and my friends also used them on their children. I don't know if they make them anymore, as it's all disposables these days.

Yes we used to bath in front of a roaring fire, this last week I wished that we still did.

My mother would also put the gas cooker on in the winter month's if the fire which had been lit by my nan at six in the morning, hadn't warmed the room enough, so that we would get warm before going to school.


Mo, we were the same, we always used one of my fathers long socks, that "Father Christmas" would put in a tangerine, some nuts and he always put us some chocolate coins in too. Every year we get a big box of paints and a huge colouring book. Oh, those were the days!


Right, I'm going for a shower now and then going to have a lovely cuppa.


Be in touch with you all tomorrow.


Love to you all. Sallie.xxx

Ah but Linda, we all live on our wonderful memories of childhood, or some we would rather forget, but the good ones stay.
We thought we were lucky to get a tangerine,some nuts and a book or a puzzle for christmas. Oh and the little tins of Blue Bird toffees.
Bath time consisted of the old tin bath in front of the blazing fire, or in the kitchen with the gas cooker door wide open blazing out heat to keep us warm. And tipping the water out in the back yard,where it would start to freeze,and make a nice slide for my younger brother and I to slip and slide on. Mo xxx

Hi Mo
Yes I did get you e-mails Thank You.
One was very emotional but too true.

Going back to our washing theme:
soaps I remember were Fairy the green one I think
Sunlight might have been yellow?
and the lovely red carbolic Lifebouy of course.
We had Lifebouy in the kitchen as that was where Dad always washed. Too many kids in the bathroom I imagine getting ready for school.

Memories flowing now.
Only one bath a week and that was shared, wasn't I lucky being the eldest.
Only allowed to wassh our hair once a week too because of heating the hot water. Oh how I hated being a teenager with greasy locks. What would they do now, they all have daily showers and hair washing too.
After Saturday night bath sitting in PJ's waiting for the toast and dripping or crumpets for a treat. And this time of year chestnuts cooked on the coal shovel on the open fire

Oh shut up Linda it wasn't as nice as now, to be fair

Linda :o) XxX

Jean I just mised your post. you. I don't blame you for not going to church in the snow and ice. J was very wise to turn back with there being freezing fog. We have a fair bit of fog around this area, which is bad enough, but I hate it when we have freezing fog, like we are having now.
Sorry to hear that you have to have a new washer too, it's the expense this time of the year, especially. Oh well Jean it looks as though it's bread an water for Christmas dinner for both of us and our families, lolol!!

Mo, let's cross our finger's that none of our friends will need a new washer too. It's enough that two of us have to have a new one. lol!

Jean, I can remember the green soap and my mother and nan scrubbing the collars of the working shirts. It was certainly hard work in those days.
We all don't know we're born these days, compared to the women years ago.

Love, Sallie.xxx

Hi Linda.
I had a flatley airer as well, way back then it was a blessing in disguise.
Roly doesn't want me to use my tumble dryer anymore,as he says it uses to much electric, but that old flatley used far more,and he never complained back then.
Did you get my e.mails earlier. Luv Mo xxx

Hi Mo
Don't worry I didn't feel ignored.
But jus tbrought back another memory.
When I had my first child in 1979 I didn't have an automatic machine either and we had terry nappies, most of you will remember them. Well I boiled them in a galvinised bucket on top of our electric hob(no gas). after they had soaked in the plastic bucket of napisan.
I didn't have a washing machine until my second child ws born in 1981.
No wonder our babies were potty trained so much earlier than the littles nowadays who are in disposables until they are almost into nursery at 3 years old.
Guess I should be writing things like this down for when I have grandchildren or for my own to chuckle over when I can no longer remember myself .
Just remembered Mum had a wonderful invention called a Flatley drier. A metal cabinet that was heated by electric, cost a fortune and took so long to dry the clothes as they hung too close together to be really effective.

Oh I am so glad of my washer/ drier. And so much less washing now there is only two of us at home now

Linda :o) XxX

I feel rotten now, I missed your post Linda, I am sorry I would not have ignored you on purpose honest injun. Luv Mo xxx

Hi Linda,

Oh I remember the wash days well from when I was growing up. I can remember my mother and nan boiling the whites in a metal boiler on top of the gas cooker, until they bought a gas boiler that was kept outside, The problem with that was that the kitchen window had to stay open so that the pipe could be attached to the gas tap just at the side of the window. Okay in summer, but freezing in the winter.
I was glad when my mother bought a twin tub, oh we were really "posh" then.lolol!! I'm sue my mother must have been in her sevevth heaven and especially to have a spin dryer instead of the wringer.

What a racket the spinner used to make though, especially if the load was a bit uneven.

When we got married my first washer was a twin tub, as there were no automatics then. Alun and I have telling Jennie and Michael today, that if we have to have a new washer, it will be our fourth automatic in 36 years.
So hopefully the new one should last us to the end of our dayslolol!! Unless of course, we live to a ripe old age. Have to look on the bright side!

Linda, Alun and I got married in 1967, when I was 20 and Alun was 21.
I don't know where the time has gone!




Mo, I hope that you are not going to be ill again like you did about this time last year.
Keep taking the Paracetamol, have plenty of hot drinks and stay in the warm. Thinking about you and hope that you'll feel a bit better tomorrow.

Love, Sallie. xxx

Special prayers for Caz, for a good outcome tomorrow. We will all be thinking of you Caz.(((((((((((((BIG HUGS and XXX)))))))))))
Love and best wishes Mo xxx

For Joyce((((((((((((((HUGS))))))))))) Love Mo xxx

S hoorid thought has just struck me, two of our friends washing machines have broken down, fingers crossed there will not be a third.

Hello ladies, we have freezing fog now to go with the frozen snow , I wasnt going to go to church this morning Sallie, Jeff set off but came back black ice, Debra has been in work but is haveing a few days holidays she is owed, starting Tuesday, but is going in tomorrow....guess what we have to have a new washer too, cant open the flippin door , its been a bit dodgy for some time but now its nearly impossible to get it open, the bigger problem is our washer and dryer are up in the bathroom , we had them moved when we had the new kitchen, so we have to wait until our man who does all our jobs can get one and get help to swap them over old out new in... but its getting very close to christmas, and he is a plumber so is run off his feet with repairs .so I have told the gang to wear the clothes longer than a day which is what usually happens, on once then in the wash...

Linda, I remember scrubbing my fathers work clothes with a brush and green soap,terrible job, and then turning the mangle, but the water did come out very easily... clothes all round the house , we had coal fires so a maiden was put in front of it and we got cold because the heat was on the clothes !!, those were the bad old days....
I too hope and pray that Ann and T get home safely and quickly. ....
hugs and loves to Tess Huia, Marie Sylvia,Joyce Liz and Mo, not forgetting Caz and our prayers and thoughts for the hospital visit tomorrow, take care out there everyone,

Love Jean xxx

Good afternoon girls.
Huia, couldn't you just want to string the blighters up, when they do so much damage.
I don't know if the headstone could be glued back together, if they are made of stone. It may need to be cemented,or something like that.
I hope the cemetery office will be able to offer you some advise.
Thank god you pulled over before you fell asleep at the wheel. It's your not getting a full nights sleep thats making you so drowsy.

Sylvia, your description of the view from the bus window,sound lovely.
I think we all get to a stage where shopping becomes a task, rather than an enjoyment.
But one must get ones undies, they are important,especially as you get chilly drafts over there. You get to the point of feeling the draft,but not knowing where it comes from, but knowing where it's going to. Brrr

Sallie what a shame about the washing machine. But you are lucky to have Jennie to do it for you.
When ours broke down at one time, I was having to do it all by hand, whilst waiting for the repair man to decide what day he could come out.
Talk about dish pan hands, they were red raw from all the scrubbing I did.
I don't want to go back to the old ways of washing, thank you very much.
And isn't it surprising how much washing just the two of you can make in a short time.

I have not been feeling brilliant today. I woke up yesterday, sneezing, with a runny nose,aching all over,and a headache, and it's still hanging around today. Paracetamol are helping to keep the aches and pains away. I don't want this over christmas again, I seem to get it every year at this time.

All our snow is slowly dissappearing, just a pile left on the drive from where Roly cleared the drive the other day.

I will say bye for now. Love and best wishes to Jean, Joyce,Caz,Marie,Tess,and our holiday maker Ann.
Love Mo xxx

Hello everyone
Mo and Sallie, I remember well the times before washer drier machines and full length washing lines before rotary ones too.
I was one of 6 children, i was a fifties child so no electrical aids then.
I do remember a mangle and having to watch fingers in the rollers.
But mostly I remember the twin tub !! which was used first for the whites at almost boiling point. Then the coloureds cooler water. Lastly the dark things and the water looked grimy and was tepid. Then everything had to be spun dry.
In the summer it was easy as you hung it out whatever the weather, for days at a time if necessary. But winter they were hung out and often brought back in hours later stiff as a board cos it was always frosty.
No central heating let alone a tumble drier. The wooden horse which was covered in newspaper to soak up some moisture(I guess) and being placed in front of the open fire when everyone went to bed, fire guard in place. I wonder there weren't more house fires eh.
If you were really desperate you put items on the oven door and almost closed it, quite good for warming clothes too as the whole house was freezing. Only the one open fire in the sitting room.
Don't forget I am only talking about the late 1950's and most of the 60's.
When I left home to get married in 1973 my parents still only had a 3 burner gas fire in the lounge and no other heating in the house, Oh I forgot the paraffin heater in the loo which was almost outside, beyond the kitchen door and next to the coal cupboard.

Linda :o) XxX

Hello Ladies,


Hope all is well with you and your families today.


Huia, I can't understand why these yobs think it's great to smash
gravestones, it's a shame that there aren't any cameras in the cemetery, so that at least some of them would get caught and made to pay out of their own pocket for the damage they have caused.

Glad that Phil was awake for a short while when you called to see him.
You were very wise pulling off the motorway and into the car park to have a nap before driving the rest of the way home.

A few years ago after Richard had been here for a few days, I decided that I would go back down with him, as I wanted to go into London to do some shopping. We were on the M40 motorway when he started to fall asleep, so he pulled into the nearest services, and we both had a nap in the car.



Mo, our washing machine is beyond repair, so we'll have to buy a new one, I'm afraid.

Jennie and Michael have been for their usual Sunday lunch, so have taken two loads of washing with them, so they'll ring us when it's all done and we'll go and pick it up. So then I'll only have to dry it, not an easy job at this time of the year.

As you said Mo, I wonder how our grandmothers and great grandmothers managed all those years ago, it really must have been hard work. I know Monday was always wash day, it must have taken them hours to do the family wash, especially as most people had more children in those days.
I think we have it pretty easy compared to our ancestors.



Sylvia, going downtown has made you tired, but at least you now have your " intimate apperal " ----sounds very posh, I must say, lolol!!

I know what you mean about feeling tired and worn out after walking around the shops. Myself and two very good friends always went out for a full days Christmas every year, but now can only manage a few hours at the most. So now we go over a couple of times, and buy the presents bit by bit.

Have finished your present buying? I bet you've enjoyed buying MJ's pressies this year.

I've been trying to buy a snowsuit or pramsuit for Chloe's sister, but the only ones I can get in her size at the moment is quite expensive. I don't think that they are worth money, as she will have grown out of it by next winter.


Caz, good luck with your scan tomorrow, hoping and praying that things are no worse. I'll be thinking about you. Take care on the ice while getting to the hospital and also hope that the lifts in the flats will be working okay.



Joyce, have you had anymore snow since yesterday? I hope you are not in so much pain at the moment, and that you are able to move about a bit more.
Also hope your dog is better, bless him. Poor Jan could have done without all that mess to clear up, I'm sure.


Jean, were you able to go to church today? Not sure if you've had snow and ice in your part of the country yet.
We had rain yesterday which has washed some of the snow away, but still got a lot to get rid of. Last night it stopped raining, but then we had freezing fog---I hate fog anyway, but when it's freezing it's much worse.


Tess, hope all is well with you in Brum. Is it today that your son gets back?


Ann, not sure when you get home, but have a safe journey.


Marie, hope the rain hasn't come back, and that you are able to do your garden. Also hope that your knee is feeling a bit better.


Liz, do you still go to your Consellor on a Monday? I hope that you are feeling the benefit talking to her.
I know that I felt better after talking to the one I seen. Although I still get odd days when I don't feel quite on top. I don't think I'll be completely without depression, but as long it isn't as bad as it was then I feel sure that I can cope. Cross fingers!



I'm going to make some cards now, but might look in later on.


Love and best wishes to you all. Sallie. xxx

Most of 'my' headstones were ok. One had been twisted a bit on the plinth but the slimeballs must have decided it was too difficult to push over. Unfortunately another headstone was smashed. I am wondering if the bits can be glued back together, lying on the grave instead of standing vertically, but I dont know if there will be enough room as they have another little 'stone' added in memory of their son who died in Australia. I will try to ring the cemetery office in the morning to see if they have any ideas.

Phil was just finishing his lunch when I called in on the way back. He was awake for a while but then he fell asleep so I came home. I almost fell asleep as I was driving home on the motorway so I left it by the botanic gardens and went there to the carpark and had a little sleep before I finished my journey.

Huia.

Hi all

I'm really tired tonight .............. I went downtown!

Wouldn't normally have gown into town on a Saturday in December, but I suddenly realised that I needed some "intimate apparel", as it was listed on the store directory! The store I buy from is right downtown in the heart of downtown

Of course, I ended up wandering around the store more than I had planned

Our tempratures are dropping .... it was close to -2C last night and will reach the same tonight.

It actually was quite beautiful looking out of the bus windows as I went downtoen. The downtown is north of where I live, and north of it is the harbour and then the mountains start rising from the water on the other side ...... they were covered with new snow. There was a bright blue sky, and the sun was shining!


I love looking at those North Shore Mountains (as we call them) ......... from 5 miles away!!




sylvia
xxx