Confession

I remember a brother and sister in business together. They ran the local greengrocers at Back Knowle, Mirfield. They were in their 90s, or so it seemed to me, and were wildly eccentric. My brother and I nicknamed them Minnie Bannister and 'Enery Krun after the Goons characters. Whatever you asked for, they would argue about it with each other, and it seemed to go on for ever, though it was such a comedy that we didn't mind. It was one of those dusty old shops with unpainted wooden floor boards and the produce all over the place in open sacks and boxes.

There was another greengrocer who came round in a horse and cart, as did the coalman and a baker. Mum used to rush out for the horse muck for Dad's vegetables. The bloke across the road used to whinge that Mum was too quick and he never got a chance. She just laughed at him.

Sometimes, with the price of petrol, I wonder if a horse and cart might be a better option. Of course, it would be out of the question on the main roads, but still.......The Amish manage in America don't they?

We had electric in the house, it was only gas in the street!

Hickenbottom the bread had a horse and cart
Hickenbottom the coal had a horse and cart
Hickenbottom the scrap had a horse and cart

They were three brothers and lived in three large houses next to each other. Their father had set them all up in business!

I remember one patient who still had gas in his house, he also hoarded news paper all tied up in bundles and stacked from floor to ceiling with a corridor through.
He used to complain bitterly about the scarcity of gas mantles.
This was in the 1970s.

The co-op baker came round with a horse-drawn van and would blow a whistle to tell us he had arrived, shouting 'bak-e-e-er!' Later the horse retired in favour of a motorised vehicle.

dorsetpennt, why didn't you allow your children to drink tea or coffee? Is it the caffeine? My GC will occasionally ask for a cup of tea so they can be like Nana, but I make it so weak for them you couldn't really call it tea!

I suppose it depends where you lived ( stating the obvious!)
Our village baker, ovens in a large shed in the garden of his bungalow, used to deliver bread in a large whicker (sp?) basket. I have a picture of me sitting in the basket.... wouldn't be allowed today! He did drive around the villages in an old (probably new at the time) Austin van.

When I lived on the Sussex coast in the early 1960's we'd sometimes go to the flea pit in Newhaven. The cinemas in Brighton were further away and more expensive. The theatre itself had gas mantles in use and during the intermission [remember those, between the main film and the B movie] we were served cups of tea.
Speaking of tea, my children weren't allowed tea or coffee until well into their teens. Whereas I can remember my brother and I had tea much earlier then that.

Ella I'm 70 and I aint counting the months!

The house I lived in until I was thirteen never did get electricity. It was pulled down, having been condemned as 'Unfit for Human Habitation' some years before we left it.

Funnily enough, I loved that house! I know my mum hated it. She was afraid it was going to fall down on us. They built buttresses up against the side to stop it doing that. Luckily it seemed to work, but I wasn't allowed to play ball up against the outside wall. (I did though )

There is another thread on GN somewhere where I've said all this before though. Some memories thing that HQ asked for.

My grandmother only had a an indoor lavatory after her OH died as he thought it was very unhygienic to have one inside!

Our next door neighbours still had gas mantles when I was little and I'm 65 eleven months and two weeks!

There used to be a 'Knocker-up'. He had a long pole to knock on your bedroom window to get you up for work. His title would have a different meaning today, eh? Perhaps he was also the gas lighter on a split shift.

I believe you jings I loved to watch the man come and light the gas lamps with his long pole. My aunt did not get electricity in her house until about 1966, her house also had an ash midden until the 60s.

Even my grannies' houses had electricity in the 1940s.

That was for the oil lamp in the bedroom.

Paraffin as well!

I hope you believe me, cos it's flippin' well true!

I can remember having six candles on my bedside table to read my book. Six!!!

We probably couldn't afford any paraffin that night.

jing's world.....!

No it wasn't from Mumsnet! They wouldn't put that stuff up on there.

We had electric street lights where I lived. Gas lights indoors though, downstairs only. Candles and oil lamp upstairs.

Oh it was lovely actually! I think I want to go back.

Aah!

Thaat's probably where she plagiarised her posts from!

She's trying to make out she should be on mumsnet rather than here, sniff!

So wot you on about, jings?

I'm (wait a minute while does some arithmetic) 56 and I remember the greengrocer's harse and cart. The horse was called Dobbin and used to eat our hedge. It didn't like children to eat but it would bite them if they annoyed it. Then the man gave it a nosebag.

That was in Hull, early sixties.