As a 'more mature' hooman, young people especially my Grandchildren have started to ask me (more often than I would like if I am honest!) what it was like in the ‘olden days’ when
I was growing up - specifically:
'What was your favourite 'fast food' when you were growing up?' - no such thing you tell them. The only ‘takeaway’ was the fish and chip shop at the end of the road or up the street..
My mum used to cook every day,
Sunday was always a roast, followed by Monday - cold meat leftovers and bubble and squeak .
Tuesday was stew from any left-overs from Mondays cold meat (there was never that much meat so our stew was always white and full of vegetables.
Wednesday was a ‘plate pie’ made with home produced pastry and a tin of stewed meat or corned beef and onion.
Thursday was Egg, Chips and Peas and bread and butter.
Friday was fish, potatoes and vegetables.
Saturday was an easy day - maybe a home produced salad or sandwiches and soup (homemade). Each day had sponge puddings and custard or rice pudding and jam. Sometimes a ‘spotted dick’ suet which I hated because it was always slimy and cooked in boiling water wrapped in a tea cloth.
We sat down at the table to eat and if I said I didn't like or didn’t want that, I was told I could leave the table without pudding but would not get any else to eat until breakfast the next morning.
Thinking about other things from my teenage years started to jog my memory, and I realise that most of the people and friends from my peer group had parents and families who:
Those parents would NEVER own their own house.
My mother never wore trousers or jeans and said they were just for young teenage tearaways.
I didn’t own a pair of jeans until I was sixteen and bought them myself.
Our family didn’t
do golf, watch Wimbledon, or have other such hobbies.
My mother went to ‘Bingo’ and our family never travelled out of the country for holidays.
We didn’t have a current/cheque account. Credit cards hadn’t been invented.
My father's wages were always paid in cash and came in Brown Envelopes with writing on the front.
My mother had a small black tin with slots cut out for payment for Rent/gas/electricity/coal/milk, and other regular bills. What she had left she bought the week’s food.
Holidays once a year were a week at Bridlington, Scarborough, Skegness, Filey, Blackpool or Morecambe. It was never in a hotel or B & B, - we rented a flat or caravan.
My parents never drove me to school...we walked everyday.
Our TV was black and white, and there were only two channels BBC and ITV (BBC2 came later)
Pizzas, chinese and indian takeaways were not delivered to our home.They didn’t exist at that time. Only fish and chip shops at the end of the street.
Pasteurized whole milk was delivered by our trusty milkman in glass bottles well as orange juice as a special treat. My mum paid the milk bill weekly.
Two bags of coal were delivered in the winter for our open fire. We had one fire in the main living room.
Central heating did not exist for the working classes. Everywhere else was freezing.
No double glazing - but sash windows that rattled and grumbled when the wind blew.
We didn’t have an indoor toilet until I turned seven years old.
My mother had an electric washing tub with a mangle wringer at the top which she was constantly telling me to keep my fingers away from! Twin tubs were relatively new and expensive.
I can remember my sister who is 17 years older than I am (I was the baby of the family and came along as a shock!) having the first automatic washing machine. It was called a ‘Hoover Keymatic’ and my father thought she was crazy for paying so much money for it. (Not sure what she paid for it I will have to find out!)
The ‘nit’ nurse used to come to school twice each term. You had your own desk where the top lid opened up and you kept your exercise books.
Childhood Favourite Sweets at 4 for an old penny. (Black Jacks and Fruit Salad).I remember going to see a Norman Wisdom film in Leeds and having 6d to spend on sweets. I got 24 - they lasted me a good couple of days.
All films were produced on general release for everyone.
I remember going to see the original ‘Mary Poppins’, ‘The Great Race’ and
‘The Sound of Music’ when they first came out. Going to the cinema when you were first courting was considered a cheap night out. (Generally called the local fleapit!)
Sunday afternoon when Dad had gone to bed for forty winks we used to watch a second world war film. I didn’t consider them gruesome or graphic, and we always won and the film always ended on a positive high note.
Sunday tea was toasted teacakes or crumpets and then Bananas and Custard or Tinned fruit with Carnation Evaporated Milk.
Cars only had three gears and you had to ‘double de-clutch’ to change gear. Some in our street even had starting handles! Petrol had lead in it.
When I took my driving test in 1973 I was also required to demonstrate effective hand signals for cars without turn indicators or just in case the electronic indicators failed!
My first car was a Ford Anglia colour Maroon with a ‘Pink Pearl’ top. I bought it for £40 and my brother overhauled it and put it back into running order with parts from the scrap yard.
We didn’t have a fridge until I was 14 (only a cupboard with a ‘cold larder’)
Our first phone was connected when I was 15 and we shared the line with a neighbour further up the road. (It was called a ‘party’ line!!!!) What a joke - all I can remember my mother saying was when she picked up the phone - get of the ‘bl***y phone I need to ring somebody!!!!
So some of the memories shared today and looking back are quite comical, but they are memories about some of the best bits of your life - your Childhood.
You didn’t say times were hard or difficult, because you didn’t know any difference, and when things did start to change and consumerism began to hit the streets, you felt pretty lucky that you could afford some of the luxuries being offered.
I still feel grateful now everyday for where I have been, and where I have arrived.
I also look forward to the future to see what new developments are
on the horizon...
Wherever you are today and whatever you are doing in our big wide world - remember with gratitude the days and the sunsets, the laughs and times of sadness, the summer sun and the winter snow, and all the things in between that creature life as part of the natural world. These are things that are precious and all the other STUFF IS JUST STUFF.
As individuals of any age, we will be in a position whereby there will always be people better and worse off than we are in a material sense, but we all get to enjoy and have pleasure from our wonderful natural environment for no payment whatsoever and there is no limit whatsoever. It is up to you how much you will interact.
Until next time then - I am what I am - you are what you are and of course it is what it is!
Love and friendship xx. Oomi