Remembering When I Was Young

[bobbie22]

When I was young I remember my mother washing the clothes in the sink, then putting them through the mangle to get the excess water out. Later on she would iron them with an electric iron which was plugged into the light after taking the bulb out. We had a rented house, the toilet was at the bottom of the garden, and the cold water tap (the only tap we had) was outside.

Everyone was the same so I didn’t feel hard done by. This was in South Wales and we lived right by the steelworks and the railway line

[Mamyalynne]

As you say Bobbie, it was everyday life for many so you just got on with it.

[douglas9401]

If it's anything like oop here now the steelworks is a retail park and the railway a cycle path.

Progress.

[JimF]

A toilet at the bottom of the garden? Luxury!

[lady-janine]

sounds very familiar Bobbie. I think a lot of use lived like that but never complained about being poor or hard-done-by. It was up to you. If you wanted something you worked for it.

[agchristie]

Still in me twenties and I find life very complicated.There's summat to be said for the 'olden days'. :-(

[lady-janine]

ag I'm not in my twenties and I often find life difficult. Hopefully it will all become clear one day and for you. We might yet see the light.

[Ken4155]

And i'll bet the loo was a 'long-drop' with yesterday's newspapers ripped into adequate squares and hung on a nail. We used to set fire to one of the squares of paper and drop it down the toilet to scare any large spiders away :-)))

[sanmac]

Bobbie22, for some reason your post immediately brought to mind Dylan Thomas' "A Child's Christmas In Wales":

[bobbie22]

Yes life was ok. Had enough to eat, so I think I was lucky. Lots of people don’t have that now

[JimF]

The older I get, the more I realise that the longing for the "good old days" (whenever they actually were) is just daft. Never been a better time than right now.

[bobbie22]

We had a hurricane lamp in the toilet to stop it freezing up. Thought we were posh A light in the toilet lol

[Jackdaw33]

Monday was washing day and it took my mother all day. I still remember the washing board which sat by the bench.

[retrocop]

If your Khazzi was down the bottom of the garden and you lived in S.Wales it would be called Ty Bach. The Little House.

[bobbie22]

Jim, I am not longing for the good old days Just had some thoughts about the past

[Ken4155]

Ty Bach On The Prairie?

[bobbie22]

Retro It was close to Taibach In fact I worked in the co-op there

[emmie]

Jim i wholeheartedly agree, nothing grand about the old days, being a child who was washed in the sink, not sure why though, i remember a tin bath by the fire place. blackened rooms from the coal fire, and a dad who was a nightmare in every sense, eat up your dinner was a nightly refrain, one that led to sitting at table till all had long stepped down.

[agchristie]

LJ, me mates and support workers know I struggle as I too often make wrong choices which leaves me more vulnerable.I sometimes think should I have been more suited in an earlier era.I've no idea really...

[bobbie22]

I remember the washing board jackdaw

[retrocop]

When my Mum was about 8 years old she used to slip through the fence into 'old man Josh's' adjoining garden with her little brother (My uncle Ken)When old man Josh was sitting comfortably on the thunder box in his little house they would poke large bunches of stinging nettles through a convenient hole in the back wall to sting his bum. They thought it great fun.