| My
story is about bath time - before the days of hot running water
and radiators!
I
enjoyed Inside Lives because noone knew a thing at the start,
but by the end we were a team!
On
Friday nights Mum would have the water warming up in the copper,
you should have seen it, just the tiniest opening in the front
for the sticks and coal to heat up gallons of water.
As
soon as the tea pots were cleared away in it came
a
long tin bath.
The
fire was allowed to stay low-thank goodness, have you ever
experienced hot tin on bare flesh?
Once
in the bath you were soaped all over, no bubbles in our house,
just scummy lifeboy suds. The bit I always dreaded was the
jug of water tipped from behind, and followed by the derbac
shampoo, which , Mum said, would keep my hair clear of lice.
You had no mistake what was to follow-the head massage!( I`m
not kidding when I say it was second to neck dislocation.)
The
fire flickered and the grandfather clock ticked, it would
have been lovely, had you not been expecting the final jug
of rinse water. When the scullery door opened, the Icelandic
draught hit every wet part - did we shiver!
After
being hauled out and dried, on went the lovely pyjamas warmed
on the guard top. And then an exact measure of that physic-a
horrible medicine to keep you regular all through the week!
We'd
sit on the brass box that held the logs, sipping our warm
milk and lulled by the clock's ticks, staring at the flickering
fire.
Our
wireless was tuned in and waiting for the Archers - half an
hour's magic before bed.
by Margaret Graham
|
Margaret's story
