snippet 7

we had to go down to Ngatea last night though and boy did it look eerie down there.. there are big fires burning on one of the peat farms.. nothing major just farmers burning off old tree stumps etc but mixed with the fog it was quite choking down there. With the street lights it made everything look like it was covered by an orange blanket.

It;s grey and damp in Trentham. Dreich as we Scots
would say. Still the weatherman assures me on the news that it will brighten up so the laundry is ready to hang out. I have all my windows open and there's the smell of woodsmoke in the air, a real Autumn morning

Hey any of you oldies remember some of the things our house keeping mums used to do, remember my mum preserving eggs in stuff that looked like glue in old kerosine tins (isinglass think it was called) and remember my father (a plumber) actually making our firt refrigerator. Before that we had a coolie, remember filling the top with water

Yes that gooy cold mess you put your hands in to get the eggs out Yuck..Our safe was on the cold side of the house that never got any sun. Kept the meat and milk cold enough. Also the sides of bacon hanging from the ceiling wrapped in cheese cloth ,that you would roll up to cut some slices off..Why does bacon not taste like it used to. We had gates to open to get to our house on the farm and us kids would ride on the running board between gates. Can you imagine what the powers that be would say if kids rode on a moving car nowdays

and do you oldies remember lanes emulsion and liberty bodices with the rubber buttons and knitted bathing suits which sagged to your knees when they got wet. No designer gear in our young days.

All of those, and cod liver oil of course or malt and cod liver oil. These days I am taking salmon oil capsules...for dry eyes would you believe, and it works. The opthalmologist told me that they can measure oil in tear drops when someone has eaten F&C the night before, and he was recommended the salmon oil from a colleague.

lanes emultion oh boy.Do I remember that.Tablespoon every morning and malt at night...still gag..Must have been ok though..Never seemed to be sick.

that egg preserver I have somewhere tucked in the back of my mind it being called Nortons egg preserver..well..the one my Mum and Dad used..Can also remember My parents preserving vegies and fruit in cans.our first fridge was a kerosene one stuck out on the back porch because of the smell.How I miss all the hustle and bustle of summer and helping with the preserves.

Isn't it funny, how we used to have and do the same things, even though thousands of miles apart, I remember the Cod Liver Oil and Malt,, great big Jars of it in the pantry and holding my nose while Mum was giving it to me.. And those Liberty Bodices with the rubber buttons hehe.. Cant imagine the young ones today putting up with those things.. Still freak out when the Fire Sirens go, reminds me of the Air Raid Siren, that looked like inverted Lawn Mowers on poles

oh those sirens. We were in Sheffield for most of the war, and we saw a bit of action there. In fact we had shrapnel come through the roof, and the blast blew my doll's house windows out:( lol And what about the rationing. One pair of socks per family, so, as we were twins, my Mum had to get her sister to line up for the other pair. And when we got back to London, we got food parcels from NZ!

we were in Epsom, just a few miles from London, and those Doodlebugs used to come right over our house, it was when the noise stopped you got worried... I can remember a bomb blast that blew in our windows and our beautiful gateleg table was embedded with thousands of glass shards.. And awful memories of the Table Shelter, and being squashed in with everyone else...

what about some of the old fashioned saying. My dad always used to say "Home James and dont spare the horses" as we headed on the homeward journey. Remember watching the flying boats land in Wellington harbour also, we lived in Roseneath at the time and also the speedboat Redhead racing round the hardbour.

My mother made me eat a tablespoon of sulphur and treacle once a week so I wouldn't get pimples when I was little. Ugh, horrible stuff and once a week we ate comfrey out of the garden