28
SOUTHERN SENIOR MAGAZINE
| Winter 2016
ow you are home from a
day’s work. You open
the door, flick a switch
and your home lights
up. You adjust the
computer on the wall, up or down, for
hot or cold air. You peel off your work
clothes, turn on the bathroom tap to
give you immediate hot running water,
drop in some sweet smelling expensive
salts and soak for a few minutes to
de-stress. Refreshed you step out, grab a
fluffy warm towel from the heated towel
rail and towel off. How lucky you are!
It may be difficult for anyone under
the age of fifty to remember the galva-
nized metal tub brought in from its
place hanging on the wall in the tiny
back yard. The filling of same being
done with boiling kettles cooled down
just enough; the fire in front of which
the tub was placed stoked for warmth
(the only center of heat in the kitchen),
the bar soap which left a film on the
hard water, and the hard rough towel,
dried previously on the outside line.
Of course, in this wonderful day and
age, there are other marvels, one of
which, taken now so much for granted,
the automatic washer and dryer. Wash
day was Monday, rain or shine. In
England children chanted “Rain, rain,
go away, come again another day, but
not on mothers washing day.” If it did
rain, drying racks would be lowered
from the kitchen ceiling, the wet clothes
strewn on them, until they were dry
enough to iron. Ironing everything was
a necessity – we had never heard of
Downey, Snuggle or dryer sheets –
honestly! And I do mean everything.
Not only sheets (imagine), but under-
wear, socks, handkerchiefs – yes, we
used cotton ones back then (yuck!); and
of course, with babies there were always
the numerous toweling diapers. Re-
member them? Flush the contents
down the toilet, rinse off, soak, and
then boil before hanging on the outside
line. At least they were not land fill.
Oh my, how far we have come. Pro-
gressing from the home telephone
(what a marvel that was in its hey-day) to
cell phones. From black and white
television to color and a hundred and
one different channels to choose from.
From walking to one’s destination or, if
you were one of the lucky ones,
hopping on a bus which might have
come by every hour, give or take, to
hopping into an air conditioned
self- driven vehicle. From opening doors
and windows to catch a breeze in the
heat of summer, to throwing a switch
(ah! that’s better).
Now we drive to the super-market,
where the choices are mind boggling.
Where every can has a recipe on the
back; where a complete meal in a bag
can be had; where cakes come ready to
mix, in boxes; where your choice of a ce-
real (maybe with a toy inside) numbers
in the dozens; (remember cornflakes –
pretty much it way back then). I could
go on and on, but you get the picture.
Would you go back to the way it was --
to the “Good Old
Days?”
N
By Mavis E. Smith
THE GOOD OLD DAYS
