Can't Do Without it!

I was going through some of the comments in the Coffee Shop and they started me thinking..........imagine a big bubble over my head!

When my husband and I were married the only 'gadgets' we had were an electric kettle, an electric iron, a mangle that fitted on the edge of the kitchen sink and a Baby Burco cooker. Oh! and an alarm clock.

The only heating was a Rayburn in the living room and an open fire in the sitting room. The Rayburn did heat the water - luxury! The bedrooms had open fires too but were never lit.

I bought my first washing machine, a twin tub, when my son was four years old. I thought I had died and gone to heaven!

Prior to that I had managed washing for three children, my husband and myself with the aid of a Burco Boiler and the aforesaid mangle. At that time you could, if you wanted or could afford it, have your heavier wash collected, laundered, ironed and starched and returned to your door in pristine condition.

By that time we had moved into a different house. We still had no central heating but a very large Aga and a Rayburn (both in the same room) provided cooking and hot water facilities.

Shortly following the washing machine came our first refridgerator. It was second hand when we bought it and lasted longer then any I have had since. This had not really been a problem as I was the fortunate possessor of a walk in larder with a huge marble shelf. Also, in those days, we had a lovely grocery shop in the village run by a man called Mr. Arbor and called, funnily enough, Arbors! All customers had their little book in which to write their weekly order. Every week, weather permitting, I would put Stephen in his pram, Janet on the pram seat, and with Lynn toddling alongside clutching her potty ( from which she refused to be parted - in case!) and walk the mile and a half to the village shop and hand in my little book and Hey! Presto! The grocer would deliver everything, sometimes the same day and sometimes the next. He also bought all of his customers quite substantial Christmas presents. For example a tea set or a set of saucepans. He was such a nice man. This service was also such a boon as we definitely ate more in those days. My husband would be up at 4.00am to do the milking and would be back at about 7.00am ready to do justice to a huge fried breakfast, back again at lunchtime for a cooked snack and expecting a huge cooked meal in the evening. A great favourite was steak and kidney pudding.

Our first TV was black and white and rented. We were quite happy with it, never having seen a coloured television

People's priorities are strange! When I first started teaching I recall a seven year old girl, Betty Brown, who shyly came up to me and said,

"Miss! we've got a coloured tele!"

She later that day adamantly refused to do PE and wouldn't. or couldn't, explain why in front of the rest of the class. I took her outside where she shamefacedly explained,

" Please miss! I ain't got no knickers!"

Our first 'car' was a beat up old Ford van which had been hand painted several times and was at that time a lurid pinkish purple! We had a lot of fun in it and used to go camping with the gear and the children in the back singing.

We didn't have a telephone installed until the girls were in their teens and going places without us. Nowadays of course teenagers cannot leave the house without a mobile phone and I sometimes wonder how their parents can afford to service so many phones.

By this time we were no longer farming as my husband had developed allergies to practically everything that he worked with and we were living in a 'normal' house with a very large garden with which my husband kept us supplied with vegetables all the year round. Nothing like fresh vegetables in season!. He was 'over the moon' when we bought his first cultivator.

So many changes and so many things we managed without have now become indispensible. Not just 'gadgets' but things like tin foil, cling film, microwaves, aerosols, home hair dryers, central heating, showers...... the list is endless.

My husband died fifteen years ago and I didn't buy anything new until about four years ago when, at the the instigation of my two lovely daughters, I bought my computer.

Now I thoroughly enjoy keeping up with my friends and family and prticularly like playing Scrabble with people all over the world. How amazing is that?

Recently, as you will probably be aware,I was unable to use my computer as my telephone line was dead. In these days of technology it took three days for it to be repaired even though the fault was actually at the exchange!!

It seemed like three weeks!!!

I hope that I am never without my computer again!

Kate Western