snippet 15

We had a few acres of land when I was in my teens and had a number of muscovy ducks which ran loose and multiplied rapidly. When we drove up the hill to our house they used to flap down the road to meet the car. My mother got fed up and bagged some up and sold them to some folk in the next rural block. They must have been homing ducks because they all flew about half a mile home again. We also had a banty rooster who crowed incessently, one day she got fed up and slipped him a couple of nembutal tablets thinking that would painleslly finish him off, he took off under the house and we didnt see him for about 3 days whereupon he reappeared, must have had a nice long sleep.

girls dont get a glory box together now -every one that came wanted to see your glory box..The times I unpacked it and packed it up again.Was a big thrill back then Mine was also a light pine..Darkened it later to match bedroom furniture..Still have it in my bed room..We all got I from Mum and Dad when we turned 18.

Remember When ?? Mum used to cut chicken, slice eggs and spread mayo on the same cutting board with the same knife and no bleach, but we didn't get food poisoning. My Mum used to defrost mince-meat on the kitchen sink AND I used to eat a bite raw sometimes, too. Our school sandwiches were wrapped in wax paper, in a brown paper bag, not in icepack coolers, but I can't remember anybody getting e.coli. Almost all of us would have rather gone swimming in the lake instead of a pristine pool (talk about boring), no beach closures then; --The term cell phone would have conjured up a phone in a jail cell, and a pager was the school PA system; --We all played sport, and also did PE... and risked permanent injury with a pair of Dunlop runners (only worn in the gym or the sports ground)instead of having cross-training athletic shoes with air cushion soles and built-in light reflectors.. I can't recall any injuries but they must have happened, because they tell us how much safer we are now;

There were not many fat kids; --Speaking of school, we all said prayers and sang the National Anthem and got free school milk for strong bones and teeth, and staying in detention after school caught all sorts of negative attention. We must have had horribly damaged psyches; -- What an archaic health system we had then. Remember school nurses? Ours wore a hat and everything, and she could even give you an aspirin for a headache or fever; --I thought that I was supposed to accomplish something before I was allowed to be proud of myself.

Someone mentioned a chimney sweep and that got me thinking about how we had no money when we were kids in London, but we still had all these people who came to the house. It was inconceivable not to have all the relevant callers. We had the coalman who deposited the coal through the hole by the front door, straight into the cellar, the window cleaner who came regularly and chatted away as he worked, the chimney sweep, the Assurance man collecting his dues, the milkman of course, the postie twice a day (through a slot in the front door)....have I left anyone out? Oh yes, the laundryman who collected and delivered. Was it the same in urban NZ back then?