Luxor4u

I remember the cheese of my childhood,
And the bread that we cut with a knife
When the children helped with the housework,
And the men went to work not the wife.

The cheese never needed a fridge,
And the bread was so crusty and hot
The children were seldom unhappy
And the wife was content with her lot.

I remember the milk from the bottle,
With the yummy cream on the top,
Our dinner came hot from the oven,
And not from the fridge; in the shop.


The kids were a lot more contented,
They didn't need money for kicks,
Just a game with their mates in the road,
And sometimes the Saturday flicks.

I remember the shop on the corner,
Where a pen'orth of sweets was sold
Do you think I'm a bit too nostalgic?
Or is it...I'm just getting old?

I remember the 'loo' was the lav
And the bogey man came in the night,
It wasn't the least bit funny
Going "out back" with no light.

The interesting items we perused
From the newspapers cut into squares,
And hung on a peg in the loo,
It took little to keep us amused.

The clothes were boiled in the copper
With plenty of rich foamy suds
But the ironing seemed never ending
As Mum pressed everyone's 'duds'.

I remember the slap on my backside,
And the taste of soap if I swore
Anorexia and diets weren't heard of
And we hadn't much choice what we wore.

Do you think that bruised our ego?
Or our initiative was destroyed?
We ate what was put on the table
And I think life was better enjoyed.


the age of remembrance must be 60 plus!!!!!!!!!!

Mmmm! Wonder if they had electricity cuts back then?

When we had less "stuff" I believe we were happier. the end of 70's represented the end of an era...
Many people warned us about what was going to happen from the 80's, Arthur Scargill included..

When I was young we had no Electricity until I was 8 years old, we had gas lights and mantles. Our neighbours were 2 miles away, and school was a 2 mile walk to the village to catch an old Bedford Bus.

Major Thom wrote:When I was young we had no Electricity until I was 8 years old, we had gas lights and mantles. Our neighbours were 2 miles away, and school was a 2 mile walk to the village to catch an old Bedford Bus.

Then why all the whinging over electricity cuts now, then?

I was shopping in what is called a supermarket around here: a tiny West Bank store with a few very basic products and a wooden drawer.

A friendly couple, I often meet, entered and started talking with the shopkeeper. They always buy sweets and cola for their children to show them how much they are loved. The three of them got sentimental and the man explained how, when they were children there were no supermarkets. For a snack, their mothers might pop some corn, or they would eat sweet grapes. They would climb the palms to steal dates and of course spend time stealing sugar cane and noone would mind.

They sighed, these are modern times, things have changed and life is so much easier now.

:

Ruby Slippers wrote:

Major Thom wrote:When I was young we had no Electricity until I was 8 years old, we had gas lights and mantles. Our neighbours were 2 miles away, and school was a 2 mile walk to the village to catch an old Bedford Bus.

Then why all the whinging over electricity cuts now, then?

And the lack of "decent food" or modern supermarkets in a West Bank village.

BENNU wrote:They would climb the palms to steal dates and of course spend time stealing sugar cane and noone would mind.

They sighed, these are modern times, things have changed and life is so much easier now.

Stealing sugar cane Bennu!
God,that takes me back!

Does anyone grow "rhubarb"in Luxor?
It used to grow like wildfire in my neighbour's garden.

As kids,we would sneak in and "steal" a few stalks!
Then we would fill a little bag with sugar,and dip the stalks in.What an absolute treat.
If the neighbour noticed..they never minded nor mentioned it.

Nowadays,we'd probably be analysed by a social worker..as to our reasons for "stealing"it!
Happy memories!

Today's kids know not the true meaning of contentment and happy, unless it has a brand name and price tag on. When I was young I had very little to nothing that the shops held in their windows on display to a young child's gawping eyes. But my world was one of continuous adventure and discovery, costing nothing, but priceless.

Dusak wrote:Today's kids know not the true meaning of contentment and happy, unless it has a brand name and price tag on. When I was young I had very little to nothing that the shops held in their windows on display to a young child's gawping eyes. But my world was one of continuous adventure and discovery, costing nothing, but priceless.

In home I was brought up in..we didn't have a "fridge"until I was 12years old!
Milk was delivered in bottles and was stored in bucket of cold water under the kitchen sink!
Biggest treat for my dad was when a bottle of milk would "turn!"

He'd put it in pantry,let it sour completely,skim the "crowdie"off the top..then gulp down the "rancid"contents in a oner!
He swore it was "delicious!"

A "Lithuanian" drink was known as "grebo."
My granny always had some of it.It was mushrooms!!!
They were left to ferment in a jar of water..and the liquid was drank.Allegedly,it was more refreshing than beer!!
I used to watch my aunts and uncles gulp it back....never quite could acquire the taste for it!

When I was very small our milk was delivered by pony power. He pulled what looked like a chariot with one or two churns in it. The driver had to stand - no room for a seat.

The housewives would bring out their jugs and the milk was ladled in by the gill.

How many know what a gill is now?

Without looking it up on Google

We didn't have a fridge until I was 16yrs old.

Terracotta bowls standing in water chilled butter....

It was kinda like household I visited on West Bank MD!
An old kinda copper boiler was a "washing machine."
Pottery urns under the sink served as a "fridge."

Chickens ran about on first level,ducks ran about on second!Rags on the floors!
I've seen all this before!Rag rugs on floor?My granny made them!Nothing was wasted.Every member of family had rag rug on kitchen floor.

I actually had "prototype"of continental quilt..a duvet!!

A big cotton "envelope"stuffed with chicken feathers!No seams though..so the chicken feathers all ended up at bottom in the morning!

And thing is..it really wasn't so long ago.

We didn't have electricity to the house when I was born but I don't remember a time without it unless it went off. We had probably 4 what we called hurricane lamps. Big high glass lamps filled with oil my dad would light (although never all at the same time . The ice man delivered ice every few days, the milkman came probably every other day along with a breadman, tea, coal man and others. Saturday morning was market day and we walked to pick up vegetables the farmers trucked in.

We actually interacted daily with lots of different Sellers who all had time to shoot the breeze and talk about the latest news and their views of life. Now you can sit in your house and never have to see or speak to anybody.

Life was very slow back then but better..........

:nod:

Like it, Bennu!

I suppose yo always expect life to go forward and when life take a turn backward its hard to take in

I'm nodding my head in recognition, agreement and understanding at so many of the comments here. I think the only one I can't agree with is in the OP ' the age of remembrance must be 60 plus!!!!!!!!!! '

I agree Hepzibah. I'm only 53, ( with a mental age of 10, maybe 12 at a push,)

I recall things pretty much the same as the coffin dodgers do..
OK, I lived in the country most of my life, where things are a bit different from the town.

We lived in a rented cottage in the Dales while our house was being built, and I loved it there. it was an old Norse type long cottage, similar to the cottages here in North Wales.
A few sticks of furniture, no TV, us children were bathed in a Belfast sink in the kitchen, and coal fires all round downstairs.
The sash windows would freeze on the inside, but I loved it there...

The new house as far as I could see is where it all started going wrong, as my parents adjusted to the new lifestyle in the big house, and tried changing us children accordingly.
I was the rebel, the black sheep so to speak..
you would never have guessed that...