‘.. there was no central heating in houses. In our house there was a big range .. like a modern Aga .. that heated the kitchen. There was no heat in our bedrooms at all .. so we had to have hot water bottles in bed. You looked after your bottle. There weren’t many then, like there is today.
Mineral bottles had a hard screw top, with a necklace of hard rubber, like a band inside the top. This sealed it. You had to wrap a cloth round it in bed at first or it would roast you!
We were always very cold in school in Winter. I was at school during the War. Pupils had to bring some fuel to school to keep the fire going. We would bring blocks of wood, or turf. There was little or no coal then, because of the War. If there was any at all, we’d burn it at home!
We’d bring bottles of teas or other drinks. We’d put them beside the fire in school in the hope that they’d be warm when we came to drink them at break time.
There were no biscuits – and no chocolate of course. Bread, with jam, if you were lucky. Sugar was scarce so jam was very rare.
.. there were no inside toilets. At school, or in the country, you ‘went’ behind a hedge! And no toilet paper. Torn newspapers! Or docken leaves in the country.
No! They were not ‘good old times’.
These are the good times, love!’