memories of yester year

We had a coal fired central heating when I was young (dad was a miner!) and yes I remember waking up with my breath making steam clouds in the middle of the night and the moon shining through the frosted windows. I never enjoyed the ice cold lino though Brrrrr

no i didnt enjoy the lino much either. as a 7yr old mum taught me how to make a rag rug for my room. but there was never one in the bathroom.

Yes it brings back memories of being cold lol. I used scrape the ice off the window to see out. I was always the first up so I used to light the fire and get the place nice and warm for everyone else.

I hated 'going' during the night! Mind I never hung around for very long though. ;~))

Oh My Goodness! my car was iced up but not as bad as that, yes it does bring back childhood memories of 'Jack Frost's' finger marks all over the inside of the windows in the days before central heating.

My grans false teeth frozen over night in a glass of cleaner, Blue tits taking the cream from the top of the milk bottle, Getting your tongue stuck on the frozen window pane, Sliding to school, oh happy days.

We used to have rag rugs,I can remember my Dad making them, post vans with chains on the wheels to stop them skidding, icicles hanging down from gutters but the worst memory was horrible partly warmed milk at school for morning break because the milk crate was stood near the fire in the classroom to thaw it out YUK !!!!!!!!!!!

I was once complimented on my 'new curtains' & couldnt work it out, until I saw that the windows were all frozen into lacey patterns on the INSIDE of the house! That was just about 7 years ago!!

I remember those frost patterns on the inside of the windows. I also remember those wonderful real eiderdowns....bliss. Lying in bed and waiting to hear Dad get up and go down to light the fire before you dared get out of bed....and then making a mad dash from bed to the fireside.
Do you remember the coal men? They used to fascinate me. All dirty black and wearing those funny leather caps that went down their backs for protection against the coal sacks.

I remember the coal men Gilli !!!

I hated the cold lino :-((
Hated everything about childhood winters in our big, cold, old Victorian house - with a skylight that got frost on it and let all the cold air in :-((
We had coal fires in most rooms but they don't keep the house a nice warm, even temperature and the cold, warm, cold pattern of going from one room to the other makes me shudder to remember it.

No siree .... i would 'not' like to return to those days, brrrrrrrrrr :-(((((((

Give me double glazing and central heating every time :-)))))))))))))

I'm with you there Louise, I loved seeing the frost patterns on the inside of the windows, but I never want to go back to those cold rooms again

I am definitely old enough to remember all of the above and had to smile at the memory of the blue-tits pecking the top of the milk bottles - they were cardboard tops in my day and as for that awful warm milk at school....OMG! Nowadays it would be banned!!
As I only modernised my old cottage here 3 years ago - I am STILL enjoying double glazing and the luxury of "flicking a switch" to heat the house....having had 3 open fires for the previous 33 years!!! I must have heaved a few tons of coal in my time....LOL And by the way - we still have a few coal-men with black faces who wear sacks on their backs!!!
Aye - we are a soft lot nowadays right enough - but just think of all the memories we have that the next generations know nothing of.....they even get "bussed" or driven to school .....just down the road nowadays.....eeek...we had to walk it and the schools didn't close if there was half an inch of snow on the ground either!!

oh do you remember the school milk so frozen it had popped the top off, and we were expected to drink it like that :~o

Ah.....those were the days my friends.....I thought they'd never end (((((((((:

I also remember we had a rag and bone man with a horse and cart came around and in winter he had rags bound around the horses hooves, we thought it was to keep it warm but it was really to stop it skidding on the ice.

I remember sitting on My Nans Sofa huddled in a Big Coat watching her make the coal fire :) Then a Big News Paper she`d put over its front "to Draw the Flames she`d say" :) MMmmmm then itd crackle & spit little sparks burning the Damp Kindling :) Me & my2 best friends would go Carol Singing to her @ Christmas Time & we`d be asked in 2 have Hot Milky Drinks :) MMMMMmmmmmm Memorys of Winter :)

I do agree about cold houses - ours never had any kind of heat upstairs, and an old coke boiler downstairs - my mum was always filling the 'hod' before we girls were old enough to help. We were allowed a real fire in the living room when winter really set in, or just the electric one otherwise - which was NOT effective! Brrrr.....

And, yes, Jacque - I used to be allowed to hold the newspaper across the front - until one day it got sucked in and burst into flames! Scream? - I think the whole of N. London heard!

Id forgotten about the newspaper to draw the fire. First one home had to light the fire the house was so cold! My mums brown veins where she had scorched her legs sitting on top of the fire. Going up stairs to a cold room and bed, then doing the reverse in the cold morning. Cars never started, and frozen pipes which meant burst pipes leaking in the thaw. Washing steaming in front of the fire. At least when the snow fell it insulated the roof and sealed up all the gaps in the window frames and the house seemed less cold and draughty.

OMG Spritz LOL :)

we still have a coal fire and still use paper to draw air through. my girls are fascinated still by the craft of fire laying.
some one mentioned the 'scarring' due to sitting too close . we used to call it cornedbeef legs!

I never heard it called that SBG [- would have made my mum chuckle.

It is still called "Granny's Tartan" up here .....LOL
I also remember cleaning the chimney by burning empty sugar bags or rolled up newspapers up it...whooooosh!!!!
One famous morning - I was watching my mother rake out the cold ashes and a wee mouse ran out from the grate ......and right up my mother's skirt!!
She would have won a medal at the Olympics for that high jump!!!

LOL AlzheM :) Did they have a Name for Dogs who would lay with their Faces 2 close to the Fires ?? My Dads German Shepherd "Rufuss" Would scroch his Fur & almost melt his eyes when sleeping near his Coalfire !!!

I still do the paper bit when the fire refuses to "lite".Also remember the insides of our bedroom windows been frozen, big thick blankets (with pink or blue stripes cross the top), dads old army coats threw over our feet.Oh the memories..Mum making toast at the fire........:~)))))

OMG Mobee.....I do believe I still have some of those blankets with the pink and blue stripes at the top.... would make great dog beds now....except that we all buy these beautiful big ready-made ones nowadays!!
No microwave wheat bags then either - but big hot-water "pigs" that you wrapped your nightie round - so it was cosy to change into.....happy days...I wonder!!

yes i remember the cold and the frost windows with the curtains stuck to them lol,i remember 5 of us sharing a bed to when my dad came out of RAF, we stayed at my nans till the council got us a house and all kids shared a double bed with an old fashioned eiderdown and a pot water bottle we would fight to get our feet on,, what memories, central heating now but my slate kitchen floor is still cold with bare feet lol
we called it firefang scaring on legs, our neighbour had lots of it lol

our lakeland terrier used to lie in front of the fire and growl when he got too hot. he wouldnt move bless him. mum would also air the clothes on the big fireguard. I remember a brother's vest singeing after he had added more coal.

woke up to rain today :o(

what a great blog topic , single glazed windows , no heating and lino it was Baltic conditions.
We were that cold in our house in the sixtys that we had to put our first sentence every morning into the frying pan to thaw out so we could get a conversation started . That was cooncil house cold bbbrrrrrrrrrrrrrr frozen!!!!!!!

lol mac... i didnt have heating till 7 years ago,, just couldnt afford such luxury`s lol

It costs a few bob but its worth it san!!!!

Lots of memories here ! Remember the eiderdown San,we also had a flock mattress which Mum used to shake up when she changed the sheets.For two nights we would sink into it-bliss.Then it got lumpier each time we laid on it !
We had a goldfish in a bowl on the landing,one winter it froze almost solid.Mum found him just in time and gently thawed him out.He lived for many a year after that :)
Oh and the wooden clothes horse and steaming clothes !

my nan was 92 when she died last year and still hung her washing on a wooden clothes rack which was on a pully up to ceiling, the same one she had all her married life :o)

If it ain't broke don't fix it eh ? Lots of things were really simple but worked a treat !

We had one of those - I'm trying to remember what it was called?????? There was a wringer with a handle to turn - I loved doing that! All the clothes came out flat and had to be re-shaped!

thats so true aster :o)

Think it was as San says just a pully clothes airer !

think it was something like kitchen maid barbara

No....not those - it definitely had a name, though.

Just had a look online you can still buy them at £48.00 a time ! It is called a kitchen maid ,though I should think each county has a local name for them .

I expect so, Aster. Thanks for trying!

I remember the wringer too Spritz.If Mum wasn't careful she had a lot of buttons to sew on as they smashed in two lol.

they are very trendy at the moment. my mate in burnley has just had her kitchen re done and she has one now. My mum just called hers the clothes airer. Ours was in the kitchen and the clothes always smelled of fried bacon !!!!!
difficult to explain away the smell sometimes at school.
my brother snapped the rope once by climbing onto the kitchen table and swinging on it. he was tarzan & i was the white girl caught by the evil slave traders. gosh did we get in to trouble or what? Johnny Weismuller was regularly on the tv on a saturday afternoon.
then 4pm the grunt & groan of wrestling had all 3 boys & dad & me sitting round the telly shouting on les kellet et all.

I wish I still had my eiderdown. I used to pull the beautiful little feathers out and marvel at them. got wrong for that too! I hated the wool blankets they were so scratchy. Mine were pre war ones. mum and dad never threw things away unless they were totally ruined. I learnt to sew seams by cutting worn sheets down the middle and re hem those edges and then turn middles to
edges. hey presto another year or two out of them.

Led to a life time of sewing for pleasure including my weddingdress.
poor as church mice but so happy.

ooh the wringer: we fed pillow cases through opening first so it balloned and squirted soap bubbles about. well only if mum didnt notice first. such happy memories.

we only knew it as kitchen maid and the stand one a clothes horse,

Oh yes - wrestling came later for me - we didn't have a TV at home until I was 17. Husband and I watched the wrestling together every Saturday afternoon - great fun! We shouted, too!

I'm trying not to feel sad that I can't ask mum what it was called. :-(

dont feel sad barbara, im sure your mum is having a right laugh at us talking about the old things here,,, my nan loved wrestling, mick mac manus was her favourite and she use to sit and knit while shouting at the ref lol

My parents had no centrel heating we had a coal fire in the living room and at xmas my mum would light the coal fire in the other room ( it was the best room) only used on special accasions. It was lino on the floors upstairs and a loo at that bottom of the garden.. No heat upstairs at all. We had hot water bottles in bed and pottys under the bed. OOOOOOOOOO the memories

yes pottys to donnah lol

what about jackie pallo and tebor zackash [not spelt like that but sounded like it.]

spritz i am sure your mum is smiling down on you. [perhaps she is your lovely red rose] mine will be smiling too. she used to sneak in to watch it too, though dad didnt approve of her seeing men in 'trunks'. Wonder what he was worried about! ha-ha come to think of it why did he not object to me watching it ??????
my brother said mum called hers the clothes rack. we had 2 wooden clothes horses too. they were often commandeered into our games. teeppees, caves, submarines, the limitation was our own imaginations. and not a watt of electricity used!

yes jackie pallo lol, on that note im going to try get some sleep ive a feeling i will be up and down with angelina tonight :o(
nite all xx

Good night, Sandra. xx Hope Angelina is OK.

Yes, I'll be off soon, too.

thankyou barbara xx

I've just been having a lovely nostalgic trip down memory lane reading through all the comments.
We used to use the wooden clothes horse when we played too. I remember the clothes steaming in front of the fire. I remember the westling on TV. My grandma used to knit while watching Coronation Street back in the 60's when Ena Sharple was still on. She never looked at her knitting but it was always perfect. I also remember going to our neighbour's house and watching her bath the baby in a bath on a stand in front of the fire....next to the clothes horse with the clean nappies drying on it.
I wish I still had those lovely old eiderdowns too........can you imagine what something like that would cost these days...that is if you could find an eiderdown that stuffed full.
I also remember having to go down to the end of the row of cottages to use the loo at my great aunt's house. God, that was cold in the winter. You had to remember to take the key otherwise you had to go all the way back. Their cottage was so old that it had a well in the cellar.....they never used it as they had had plumbing put in but it was still there and there were sometimes frogs down there. It was spooky in that cellar. I tried never to go down.
I remember the old air raid shelters that were left over from the war with their corrogated roofs. My Grandad had sunk his into the bottom of the garden and it was wired with lights and electricity so that my Mum and Grandma could put the kettle on during an air raid. LOL. He used it as a garden shed later.
I also remember the rag and bone man with his horse and cart and he did the same with the horse's hooves Bob.
Ooooo and the wringer.....I loved to watch the wringer. We used to call the old hand crank one a Mangle. I wish I had one of those these days. It did a much better job of wringing out the water than my electric washer's spin cycle.

I had an eiderdown til my dad nicked it 3 years ago for his dog!! (Well, the dog was ill & needed to be kept warm!!!)
I sTILL have a wooden clothes horse too!
I agree about the mangle! It didnt 'mangle' the clothes as much as my new washing machine does!! Lol!

I still have a well in the garage!! A real pump the old handle job and beautiful clear pure water. But the last time any water was pumped up - during A DROUGHT (can anybody remember what that word means LOL) we were trying to save a little lawn that had gone brown and of course there was a hose-pipe ban (a what..I hear you cry?!)
Yes well - what my late husband didn't realise was that the water was ICY cold and promptly killed the grass!!!! We had to re-seed that little lawn - the other lawns recovered all by themselves...as they do!!!

Hee hee! Why is it in the garage??

why is what in the garage madperth?

Alz's well, Sbg.

In these old houses, there's always a well somewhere - the one for our house is now in next door's courtyard, from when the house was divided. When the house just up the lane was having an extension, they discovered their well - right in the middle of the sitting room! Ooops! It wasn't even capped off, really.

Oh blimey !! Ding Dong Bell.... That must have been a bit of a shock to them Spritz!!!
Our one is in the garage MP - because our younger son needed a two car garage - to renovate his old Land-rovers and so the well got overtaken -so to speak....and is just inside the roller door - and it makes parking a car very tricky - it can be done but then what are garages for - not really cars - are they:>>>)))

Not unless the man of the house is building his own car, Alz! The 'real' cars have to stay outside! LOL.

Fair point Spritz!! My Disco has never seen the inside of my garage in its entire 5 years!!!! Nothing to do with men however...more to do with lumber...oh and gardening gear....LOL

our garage has classic cars/bikes, lawn mower and lots of husband's junk oops sorry treasure.
daily car is on the drive.

I'll bet most GOYers would say the same - the car is in the drive - the garage is too full up!

too right :o)

We had a mangle and my job was to feed the sheets through while Mum pulled them out the other end Lol Remember making toast on open coal fire,holding a long handled fork !

still do toast muffins and roast chestnuts !

Yes and baked potatoes too ! Used to huddle as close to fire as possible ! Now backed up by central heating !

dont do spuds on it incase they go bang and splatter spud allover the sitting room. I would not be amused :o)

LOL !

I still have my Grandma's old brass toasting fork BB. :o)

Oh how lovely Gilli.Dad still has his ! :o)