Subject: [EoLFHS] Childhood memories and some true facts from 1500's
> A few weeks ago I started a thread on another notice board, Called
> "Childhood Memories" the list was full of listers memories. some of the
> listers have said they have kept them in a file for future generations to
> read.
> I found these iteams and thought this list would find them interesting.
> ****************************************
>
> Next time you are washing your hands and complain because the water
> temperature isn't just how you like it, think about how things used to
> be...Here are some facts about the 1500s (I don't know the source!):
>
> Most people got married in June because they took their yearly bath in May
> and still smelled pretty good by June. However, they were starting to
smell
> so brides carried a bouquet of flowers to hide the body odour.
>
> Baths consisted of a big tub filled with hot water. The man of the house
had
> the privilege of the nice clean water, then all the other sons and men,
then
> the women and finally the children-last of all the babies. By then the
water
> was so dirty you could actually lose someone in it-hence the saying,
"Don't
> throw the baby out with the bath water."
>
> Houses had thatched roofs-thick straw, piled high, with no wood
underneath.
> It was the only place for animals to get warm, so all the dogs, cats and
> other small animals (mice rats, and bugs) lived in the roof. When it
rained
> it became slippery and sometimes the animals would slip and fall off the
> roof-hence the
> saying, "It's raining cats and dogs."
>
> There was nothing to stop things from falling into the house. This posed a
> real problem in the bed room where bugs and other droppings could really
> mess up your nice clean bed. Hence, a bed with big posts and a sheet hung
> over the top afforded some protection. That's how canopy beds came into
> existence.
>
> The floor was dirt. Only the wealthy had something other than dirt, hence
> the saying "dirt poor." The wealthy had slate floors that would get
slippery
> in the winter when wet, so they spread thresh on the floor to help keep
> their footing. As the winter wore on, they kept adding more thresh until
> when you opened the
> door it would all start slipping outside. A piece of wood was placed in
the
> entranceway-hence, a "thresh hold."
> They cooked in the kitchen with a big kettle that always hung over the
fire.
> Every day they lit the fire and added things to the pot. They ate mostly
> vegetables and did not get much meat. They would eat the stew for dinner,
> leaving leftovers in the pot to get cold overnight and then start over the
> next day. Sometimes the stew had food in it that had been there for quite
a
> while--hence the rhyme, "peas porridge hot, peas porridge cold, peas
> porridge in the pot nine days old."
>
> Sometimes they could obtain pork, which made them feel quite special. When
> visitors came over, they would hang up their bacon to show off. It was a
> sign of wealth that a man "could bring home the bacon." They would cut off
a
> little to share with guests and would all sit around and chew the fat."
>
> Those with money had plates made of pewter. Food with a high acid content
> caused some of the lead to leach onto the food, causing lead poisoning and
> death. This happened most often with tomatoes, so for the next 400 years
or
> so, tomatoes were considered poisonous.
>
> Most people did not have pewter plates, but had trenchers, a piece of wood
> with the middle scooped out like a bowl. Often trenchers were made from
> stale pays and bread which was so old and hard that they could use them
for
> quite some time. Trenchers were never washed and a lot of times worms and
> mould got into the wood and old bread. After eating off wormy mouldy
> trenchers, one would get "trench mouth."
>
> Bread was divided according to status. Workers got the burnt bottom of the
> loaf, the family got the middle, and guests got the top, or "upper crust."
>
> Lead cups were used to drink ale or whisky. The combination would
sometimes
> knock them out for a couple of days. Someone walking along the road would
> take them for dead and prepare them for burial. They were laid out on the
> kitchen table for a couple of days and the family would gather around and
> eat and drink and wait to see if they would wake up-hence the custom of
> holding a "wake."
>
> England is old and small and they started out running out of places to
bury
> people. So they would dig up coffins and would take the bones to a
> "bone-house" and reuse the grave. When reopening these coffins, 1 out off
25
> coffins were found to have scratch marks on the inside and they realised
> they had been burying people alive. So they thought they would tie a
string
> on the wrist of the corpse, lead it through the coffin and up through the
> ground and tie it to a bell. Someone would have to sit out in the
graveyard
> all night (the "graveyard shift") to listen for the bell; thus, someone
> could be "saved by the bell" or was considered a "dead ringer." And that's
> the truth...
> (And whoever said that History was boring?)
>
> ***************************************
>
> For Those Of You Born Before 1940, And we Know There Are A Couple Of You
Out
> There, Here Is Something Of Interest:
>
>
>
> WE ARE SURVIVORS
>
> We were born before the age of TV age, before polio shots, frozen foods,
> plastics, contact lenses, frisbees and the pill. We were before
> refrigerators, dishwashers, tumble dryers, electric blankets, air
> conditioners, credit cards, split atoms, laser beams, ballpoint pens and
> before man walked on the moon. We got married first and then lived
together.
> How quaint can you be?
>
> In our time, closets were for clothes, not for "coming out of". Bunnies
> were small rabbits and dishes were for washing, not receiving programs
from
> outer space: Designer Jeans were scheming girls, and having a meaningful
> relationship meant getting along well with your cousins:
>
> We thought fast food was what you ate during lent and cold turkey was
what
> you ate on Boxing Day:
>
> We were before house-husbands, gay rights, computer dating, dual careers
> and commuter marriages. Divorce was something that happened to film
stars:
> We were before day-care centres, group therapy and nursing homes. We
played
> with dinky toys, wore liberty-bodices and took a daily dose of cod liver
oil
> and malt. We drank Ovaltine, ate porridge and listened to the Goon Show,
> Workers Playtime and Housewives Choice. We had never heard of Radio 1,
tape
> decks, electric typewriters, artificial hearts, word processors or
yoghurt.
> For us, time-sharing meant togetherness, not Spanish Holiday Homes; a chip
> meant a piece of wood, hardware meant a shop where you bought hammers and
> nails and software wasn't even a word!
>
> In 1940 "Made in Japan" meant poor quality and the Koreans and Taiwanese
> hadn't even started production. Pizzas, MacDonald's and instant coffee
were
> unheard of. We were born when everything in Woolworth's cost one penny.
For
> sixpence you could take a tram ride, go to the cinema and buy an ice
cream.
> In our day cigarette smoking was fashionable, grass was mowed, coke was a
> cold drink and pot was something you cooked in. Rock music was a lullaby
and
> Aids were for those with hearing difficulties. We were certainly not
before
> the difference between the sexes was discovered, but we were surely before
> the sex change, we made do with what we had and we were the last
generation
> to think you needed a husband to have a baby! We typed letters with manual
> typewriters, did computations by hand, and used carbon paper to make
copies.
> We used telephones without buttons or dials and fax was something you
looked
> up in a encyclopaedia. We did business with handshakes and trust and
somehow
> it !
> all worked and we survived.
>
> Jeanette Shermer wrote: I am a Child of the 1950's.>
>
> Great time to be born, eh? :-)
>
> > Then "The JUBBLE" a wax carton with orange juice in that could be
> frozen,
>>
> I remember them as Jubblys. You very rarely saw them in unfrozen form
> when I was growing up in Langley Mill, Derbyshire, but I remember loving
> to get one on a hot day in summer (well, I *remember* us having hot
> days!) and sucking hard at tem so the orange came out of the ice and
> left a clear section.
>
>
> > a "LICORICE "(liquorice) stick this was a twig from a European plant
> used
> > in medicine and confectionery - cost 1d.
> > would suck it then spit it out.
> > This was better that taking syrup of figs!
>
>
> I never had those, though my Mum used to recall them. I used to like
> processed liquorice in a hard form. I couldn't tell you the proper name
> but it was obviously moulded in a round shape and then stamped at one
> end to form a flat portion with some indistinct writing on.
>
>
> > We would go to the Granada Picture House, High St. Walthamstow, London.
> on a Saturday morning (Children only films) 9am - to - 12.30pm. cost 6d.
> mum could do the shopping.
>
> Ah! The Heanor Empire on Red Lion Square! Their kids' shows were on
> Saturday afternoons. I remember all the pre-War serials they still
> showed. I'll bet Flash Gordon is the one everybody remembers but I
> remember one that nobody else seems to have heard of - The Thunder
> Riders. A cowboy-based serial where a group of men would emerge from
> their secret, underground world - a big flap would drop, Thunderbirds
> style, in the side of a mountain - and right wrongs.
>
> Keith - feeling really nostalgic! B-)
> *************************************************************
>
> Camphor blocks in a hanky strung round the neck as an alternative to
> Thermogene pads !
>
> Jeanette Shermer - wrote:
> I put camphor blocks around my childrens necks in the 1970's because my
> children kept getting colds, and I rememberd that my cousins had them
around
> their necks and they never got colds. It works ! my children never got
colds
> when they had camphor blocks round their necks after that.
> Please Note: DO NOT do this if a child has asthma.
> <<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>
> In retrospect I'm sure most of these doses were a form of punishment
> preferable to a clip round the ear.
> Anyone remember leaving Paddington Station and seeing the large metal
> Virol ads on the left hand side ? " Growing boys need it ", "Delicate
> girls need it ". It was with some disappointment at the end of a row of
> such questions to find the last ad said VIROL. My aunt worked at the
> Virol factory at Perivale and always had acouple of jars for my sister -
> it was a girl thing as I had halibut oil & malt tastier than cod liver
> oil.
> My wife assures me the liberty bodice rubber buttons were for a
> "combination " set which included knickers with button holes. You learn
> something new every day!
> Last word ! Did you know the clinic issue orange juice didn't mix with
> brandy - it just stayed suspended like an egg yolk - I got a clout for
> that.
>
> I do hope some of you have found these writing interesting if not quite
> funny.
> Jeanette Shermer
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