Aren't families wonderful? I spent a delightful day last Saturday in Folkestone with four of my grandchildren and other family members. Despite it being Bank Holiday weekend our travelling went very smoothly. A delicious lunch was provided for all nine of us by my granddaughter in her new house in Sandgate Just up the road from where we used to live. We heard of my 8 year old French grandson's adventures in the French Alps. His first time away from home! He went rock climbing. canoeing, swimming, cycling and camping.
My first holiday away from home was on a school journey to Broadstairs. I was 9 years old and am not quite sure I enjoyed it. I gather most children have mixed feelings about that first time away from all that is familiar. It is supposed to be character-building!
Wednesday 31 August 2011
Thursday 25 August 2011
Seeking Directions
I have only to stand still in the street and someone will ask me the way to somewhere. I must look like a local, even in Denmark! My father-in-law had a few tales to tell on this subject.
Ask a vicar the way and he will say "Down this road to St. Peter's Church, turn right when you get to the Baptist Chapel, straight on past the Wesleyan until you get to the Cathedral." Ask Bill Jones and he will say "Go down this road as far as The Red Lion, turn left at The Bull, past the King's Head and it is opposite the Rose & Crown."
In the early days of cycling ladies wore" Bloomers" (named after a Mrs. Bloomer an early cyclist) to save their skirts from getting oily. Two such ladies stopped to ask a farmer for directions. "Is this the way to Wareham?" "Well I don't know" said the farmer. "My missus wears hers under her dress."
Ask the way of a local and he will say "Well if I were you I wouldn't start from here."
Two young men asked the way and the answer was "I don't know." "You don't appear to know much." said one young man rudely. " Mebbe not" was the reply "But I aren't lorst."
Ask a vicar the way and he will say "Down this road to St. Peter's Church, turn right when you get to the Baptist Chapel, straight on past the Wesleyan until you get to the Cathedral." Ask Bill Jones and he will say "Go down this road as far as The Red Lion, turn left at The Bull, past the King's Head and it is opposite the Rose & Crown."
In the early days of cycling ladies wore" Bloomers" (named after a Mrs. Bloomer an early cyclist) to save their skirts from getting oily. Two such ladies stopped to ask a farmer for directions. "Is this the way to Wareham?" "Well I don't know" said the farmer. "My missus wears hers under her dress."
Ask the way of a local and he will say "Well if I were you I wouldn't start from here."
Two young men asked the way and the answer was "I don't know." "You don't appear to know much." said one young man rudely. " Mebbe not" was the reply "But I aren't lorst."
Friday 19 August 2011
The good old days!
Although not all parts of the country have been so lucky (indeed some places have suffered torrential rain and even floods) we in the south east have enjoyed several days of warm sunny weather. I have always hated being cold. Mnd you, I have been very uncomfortable being too hot, e.g. in Sri Lanka. Having stripped to the buff and lying only with one's modesty covered with a thin sarong one can still be too hot. (Now,now no laughing!)
In our geography class at school I got a ticking off for reading aloud "The Japanese warm their houses by means of brassieres." Miss Lucas was convinced I did it for a laugh. How was I to know how to pronounce braziers? I'd never heard of them. The only heating in our flat was a coal fire in the living room and a coke copper in the kitchen. The copper was where we heated the water for our laundry and for our weekly bath. No bathrooms then. A tin bath which hung on a nail on the back balcony was brought in and put in front of the fire, then filled with buckets of hot water from the copper. We took it in turns to bathe. The grown ups were screened by towels hung on a wooden clothes horse.
The laundry was done in bowls in the sink. Bars of Sunlight soap and the clothes rubbed hard on a washboard. This could rub your knuckles sore if you weren't paying attention! Then rinsing and all white things put in a bucket with water and a blue bag, Reckitts Blue. Tablecloths and men's collars were put to one side to be starched with Robins Starch.
Drying clothes was always a problem. If the wather was dry the small back balcony was a trap for the unwary who needed to use the loo which was on the balcony next to the coal cupboard. The wet sheets would wrap themselves around you. If the weather was bad the laundry had to be hung in the kitchen. There was a large wooden mangle in the kitchen. Everything went through the mangle before being hung up. Another trap for the unwary. Fingers could get squashed. When almost dry sheets and pillow cases and hankies would go through the mangle to save ironing which was done with irons heated on the gas cooker and then the irons were put on a silver "slipper" so as not to dirty the clothes.
The ironing was done on a blanket covered with an old sheet on the kitchen table.A lot of the housewife's time was spent doing the laundry. No wonder clothes were only changed once a week unless really dirty, though men usually had a clean collar every day. How times change!
In our geography class at school I got a ticking off for reading aloud "The Japanese warm their houses by means of brassieres." Miss Lucas was convinced I did it for a laugh. How was I to know how to pronounce braziers? I'd never heard of them. The only heating in our flat was a coal fire in the living room and a coke copper in the kitchen. The copper was where we heated the water for our laundry and for our weekly bath. No bathrooms then. A tin bath which hung on a nail on the back balcony was brought in and put in front of the fire, then filled with buckets of hot water from the copper. We took it in turns to bathe. The grown ups were screened by towels hung on a wooden clothes horse.
The laundry was done in bowls in the sink. Bars of Sunlight soap and the clothes rubbed hard on a washboard. This could rub your knuckles sore if you weren't paying attention! Then rinsing and all white things put in a bucket with water and a blue bag, Reckitts Blue. Tablecloths and men's collars were put to one side to be starched with Robins Starch.
Drying clothes was always a problem. If the wather was dry the small back balcony was a trap for the unwary who needed to use the loo which was on the balcony next to the coal cupboard. The wet sheets would wrap themselves around you. If the weather was bad the laundry had to be hung in the kitchen. There was a large wooden mangle in the kitchen. Everything went through the mangle before being hung up. Another trap for the unwary. Fingers could get squashed. When almost dry sheets and pillow cases and hankies would go through the mangle to save ironing which was done with irons heated on the gas cooker and then the irons were put on a silver "slipper" so as not to dirty the clothes.
The ironing was done on a blanket covered with an old sheet on the kitchen table.A lot of the housewife's time was spent doing the laundry. No wonder clothes were only changed once a week unless really dirty, though men usually had a clean collar every day. How times change!
Wednesday 17 August 2011
Dieting
I have been a yoyo dieter for more years than I care to remember. I have now decided that I live in the wrong century. The artist Rubens would have welcomed me as a model. The skinny girls on today's catwalk would not have merited a second glance from him.Oh well! Too late now to do much about it. Here are some things to make all you aspiring waifs cheer up.
Lady speaking to her rather large friend who is about to eat a huge plateful of food. "Why, dearie, I thought you was on a diet" Friend replied "So I am dear. I've had me diet, now I'm having me dinner."
I haven't got the figure for jeans (Mrs. Thatcher.)
Jam doughnuts can be very disappointing. First bite you haven't come to the jam, second bite you've gone past it.
I'm on a seafood diet. When I see food I have to eat it.
Hunger is the best sauce.
The pasta diet will make you lose weight. You walk pasta da bakers, pasta the sweet shop, and pasta the refrigerator.
My mother told me it was a sin to waste food. I try to tell myself that it is better that it goes to waste than it goes to waist. I don't succeed!
Lady speaking to her rather large friend who is about to eat a huge plateful of food. "Why, dearie, I thought you was on a diet" Friend replied "So I am dear. I've had me diet, now I'm having me dinner."
I haven't got the figure for jeans (Mrs. Thatcher.)
Jam doughnuts can be very disappointing. First bite you haven't come to the jam, second bite you've gone past it.
I'm on a seafood diet. When I see food I have to eat it.
Hunger is the best sauce.
The pasta diet will make you lose weight. You walk pasta da bakers, pasta the sweet shop, and pasta the refrigerator.
My mother told me it was a sin to waste food. I try to tell myself that it is better that it goes to waste than it goes to waist. I don't succeed!
Tuesday 9 August 2011
Quotations
I enjoy listening to a sort of parlour game called "Quote, unquote" on BBC Radio 4. Various celebrities talk about their favourite quotations.
My mother's sayings would fill a whole programme. She had something to fit every occasion. The neighbours were often a sore point. "She's no better than she should be" was a mystery to me. Of a crafty one "You have to watch her like boiling milk" Anyone she thought was a bit soft was "Three ha'ppence short of a shilling". Her maxim on sleep was 6 for a man, 7 for a woman and 8 for a fool. You weren't supposed to lie abed. The weather "When the wind is in the east it's neither good for man nor beast". When her grandchildren asked her how old she was she would say "I'm as old as my tongue and a little bit older than my teeth". Ask her to play and she would say "I can't just now, I've got a bone in my leg". I wasn't allowed to be conceited she would say "Self praise is no recommendation" or "Is your trumpeter dead?"
Helping me with my homework it was "I'll try, two heads are better than one , even if they are only sheep's heads". If I should whistle she'd say "A whistling woman and a crowing hen is neither good for God nor men"
She was very strong on morals "Speak the truth and shame the Devil" God pays debts without money" (when retribution strikes). "Patience is a virtue, posess it if you can. Seldom found in woman, never in a man". Always an optimist "When one door shuts another one opens" "Out of debt, out of danger" when she paid a bill. If she did some work on a Sunday she would say "The better the day, the better the deed".
If the boss told you off he would "Have you up on the carpet" presumably his was the only room with a carpet. "The last person to get her tap mended was the plumber's wife". "If you want a job done well do it yourself" If I was cheeky she'd say "You'll laugh on the other side of your face" I'm still working out some of these sayings.
She had the wisdom of Solomon. I remember sharing an apple with my brother. She said he could cut it and I could choose which half to have. You never saw an apple cut so carefully!
My mother's sayings would fill a whole programme. She had something to fit every occasion. The neighbours were often a sore point. "She's no better than she should be" was a mystery to me. Of a crafty one "You have to watch her like boiling milk" Anyone she thought was a bit soft was "Three ha'ppence short of a shilling". Her maxim on sleep was 6 for a man, 7 for a woman and 8 for a fool. You weren't supposed to lie abed. The weather "When the wind is in the east it's neither good for man nor beast". When her grandchildren asked her how old she was she would say "I'm as old as my tongue and a little bit older than my teeth". Ask her to play and she would say "I can't just now, I've got a bone in my leg". I wasn't allowed to be conceited she would say "Self praise is no recommendation" or "Is your trumpeter dead?"
Helping me with my homework it was "I'll try, two heads are better than one , even if they are only sheep's heads". If I should whistle she'd say "A whistling woman and a crowing hen is neither good for God nor men"
She was very strong on morals "Speak the truth and shame the Devil" God pays debts without money" (when retribution strikes). "Patience is a virtue, posess it if you can. Seldom found in woman, never in a man". Always an optimist "When one door shuts another one opens" "Out of debt, out of danger" when she paid a bill. If she did some work on a Sunday she would say "The better the day, the better the deed".
If the boss told you off he would "Have you up on the carpet" presumably his was the only room with a carpet. "The last person to get her tap mended was the plumber's wife". "If you want a job done well do it yourself" If I was cheeky she'd say "You'll laugh on the other side of your face" I'm still working out some of these sayings.
She had the wisdom of Solomon. I remember sharing an apple with my brother. She said he could cut it and I could choose which half to have. You never saw an apple cut so carefully!
Monday 1 August 2011
The Post
I have just sent off some letters by what I have learned to call snail mail. What an appropriate moniker that is! How sad that postage stamps have reached such an astronomical figure and my letters arrive at 1 p.m. if at all. No longer do I sit at breakfast and use the butter knife to open the envelope (how shocking).
As a child I remember lying in bed at 9 p.m. and hearing the rat-a-tat of the postman's knock as he made his last delivery. There were several deliveries a day in London. In the 1930s one could send a letter early in the morning to a London address and get a reply by teatime.
The poor postman carried a very heavy bag, no trolleys in those days. They worked long hours starting very early in the morning. Mind you, the postman was the aristocrat in our street. At a time when unemployment was rife and outdoor workers did not get paid at all if the weather was too bad for them to work the postman had a steady job and a small pension when he eventually retired.
My father-in-law was a country postman and entertained us on many an evening with his stories. On delivering to a large house early in the morning the cook would often provide him with a breakfast and a warm by the kitchen fire. The baker would send him away with a freshly baked cottage loaf "for the missus". He was once given some fish by the fishmonger. He didn't want to carry it around with him so he hid it under a hedge. When he went to retrieve it there was nothing there but the bones. A cat had got there first. Come rain or shine he really enjoyed his work. He was a great talker and I think, like the pedlar of old, people relied on him for the latest gossip.
As a child I remember lying in bed at 9 p.m. and hearing the rat-a-tat of the postman's knock as he made his last delivery. There were several deliveries a day in London. In the 1930s one could send a letter early in the morning to a London address and get a reply by teatime.
The poor postman carried a very heavy bag, no trolleys in those days. They worked long hours starting very early in the morning. Mind you, the postman was the aristocrat in our street. At a time when unemployment was rife and outdoor workers did not get paid at all if the weather was too bad for them to work the postman had a steady job and a small pension when he eventually retired.
My father-in-law was a country postman and entertained us on many an evening with his stories. On delivering to a large house early in the morning the cook would often provide him with a breakfast and a warm by the kitchen fire. The baker would send him away with a freshly baked cottage loaf "for the missus". He was once given some fish by the fishmonger. He didn't want to carry it around with him so he hid it under a hedge. When he went to retrieve it there was nothing there but the bones. A cat had got there first. Come rain or shine he really enjoyed his work. He was a great talker and I think, like the pedlar of old, people relied on him for the latest gossip.
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