8 Who could forget those old agitator washing machines and the twin concrete tubs! My Mum had a washboard she still used for the longest time.
In those days, for baby wear etc, we grated Sunlight soap [Lux flakes were expensive]! No such thing as fabric softners. We used Blueo in the final rinse for the whites!

No clothes driers so it was hang what you could outside to get dry as possible then bring in and hang over the wooden clothes horse to dry off!

I bought my Mum a clothes drier when they first came out. The model which looks like a fridge - Activair. The had a heating element in the bottom so just blew air upwards. Had about 3 sets of moveable racks - darn, nappies used to dry as hard as nails!

Then at some stage along came twin tub machines.

9 Hogget for Christmas Day as it was cheaper and as Dad would say, it had more taste than lamb!

At one stage they had a freezer and it was Dad who would saw a side of sheep [probably mutton] up for Mum to pack. I can remember tearing the kidney out!
Shreddo was bought in a packet. Suet bought from the butcher.
Mmmm. those roly poly type puds!
Puds were often cooked in a steamer or boiled. Can remember Mum washing loads of mutton cloth for puds.

Mum for years, baked her own Christmas puds and cakes. In those days, she would put 3d [three pence] coins in the pud and one only 6d [six pence piece] so if you got the 6d piece, you were lucky!

Puds were served with custard; for tea, we'd have trifle!

Then along came Ernest Adams and as us girls were working, we softened Mum up by buying her puds and a cake!

Homemade mint sauce was a must on the table for many a meal.

Sunday was traditionally a mid-day roast followed by cold meat, pickles and salad for tea in summer; cold meat, mashed spud & pickles for tea. Darn she could slice the lettuce so darn fine and I've never been able to do it the same!

I think every lunch and dinner, the table was set with the bread board, bread knife, loaf of bread and of course, the block of butter.
Sliced bread wasn't on the market then!

With the amount of meat and fats [butter] we used to eat, it was no wonder so many had gallbladder problems!

Traditional roasts for Christmas, were served up until Mom passed away. Now the family is so scattered, I look back and think how nice it was to have 'family' all in one place and why I treasured Thanksgiving in the US - a time for family to be together!

Casseroles, deserts [who can forget those yummy creamy rice puds] cooked in pyrex dishes were in vogue here and there but for many of us, when we went back to work full time, the dishes were consigned to the back of a spare cupboard. Then when microwaves came on the scene, they came in handy again!

For many women over the years, keeping hubby's tea hot meant either keeping it in a slow oven or on top of a pot of boiling water. Oh how microwaves changed that!

When air travel become more accessible [in the 70's] and with immigrants from other countries rather then traditionally the UK, foods changed. Gone were the days of just the old pie cart and maybe a couple of greasy restaurants [hotels catered for the upmarket diner].

I was maybe 8 when the local milk bar opened which also served pea, pie & pud! Who can [from those days] forget the milkbars and the jukeboxes!

I still have several of my Mum's kitchen tools and baking tins!
Before I left the States, my daughter took an array of things, in particular, glass dishes, bowls etc.

My daughter is currently visiting from the US and has been frustrated at the lack of choices in the stores here v what she is used to. I have pretty much adapted back though I do admit to missing cheap veggies 12 months of the year and certain products and foods, but as she has known nothing else, it's been hard for her.

My daughter is finiky in that she uses little product that is in a can.
She makes just about everything from scratch buying from organic etc type stores. She doesn't own a toaster; the only reason she has a toaster oven is I bought one during one of my stays and told her she could do what she liked with it when I left - her hubby put his foot down and said 'it stays'. She would not have a microwave if she had her way [hubby bought one] - she doesn't use it! I think the only other appliance she has is a blender. Every appliance I have sent her she has donated to thrift stores [she reckons I had every appliance that came on the market]. Yeah, she's into 'healthy living'..

Reality is, I may have seen so many changes in my lifetime but they are little compared to what my parents/grandparents went through in theirs. Makes me a lot more grateful of what I've had avalable & been able to take advantage of.

10 The times certainly were different
I remember much of what others have written , but also we had a gas meter in the kitchen and we used to feed 1 shilling coins into it , I'm not sure how long that lasted.. but it was a "priviledge in our house..lol .. and we had a copper in the wash house which was an "outside" room. Mum used to boil the copper for the washing , she used a wash board too ,and for our bath , which wasnt every day. I think it was Saturday nights , so we were bright and shiny for church on Sunday .. lmao. Sunday morning we piled into mum and dads bed and listened to sunday morning requests on the national radio.. I remember Sparky and the talking train , the selfish giant, rumplestiltskin , just to name a couple !
Going to the butcher was neat cause he would give you a savaloy, and there was always sawdust all over the floor and Mum would get the blue stripe meat cos the red stripe meat was too expensive and we used to get Duck eggs for baking.
The green grocer van used to come to the end of the street and he would ring a bell and all the mothers would go out and get Veges, and he sold tuppeny packs of chewing gum.
Across the road from where we lived was the most amazing place called Tiny Town. The man had made this village on his front lawn it had the most brilliant wee things , you had to see it to believe it , and i spent heaps of time there.
It sure was a different world .. much simpler.. much happier ..much easier.. I dont know what my Parents thought tho.. I guess they still had worries , it just wasnt made known to us ..................

11 All of the above - gosh it brings back memories alright. I remember going to the Queesntown camping ground on hol with family of us 5 kids and mum and dad and the milk man came around with a ladle thingee and poured our milk into billy cans up by the camp store on shelves with our name on the billy. No crap in our lunch boxes, no crap after school, no crap as a treat on every visit to the supermarket, no crap as a reward. We didn't have 'rewards' our behaviour was just expected to be pretty good and we got it when it wasn't. We ate healthy and well and I know mum and dad struggled at times. Now mum's gone and I think about those times even more and how they looked after us all.

12 I, too, am in my sixties, but I was the eldest in a family of six, and was expected to help both my mother AND father with the work around the house and farm. Oh, it was much simpler then, but damned hard, sometimes tedious, work for the people who had to stay home and do it. Of course I remember the good times, but I also remember bucketing boiling water from the copper into the bath or the washing machine. I remember scrubbing and polishing what seemed like acres of lino by hand, keeping the Aga going with wood scavenged from round the farm by the kids and chopped by Dad. You had to plan ahead to feed the family and grow your food (we did, anyway) - no nipping down to the corner store.... or even buying ready-prepared food if it was available.
I'm glad I learned how to be truely independant of shops, and I still get a HUGE sense of achievement when I see my shelves full of jams and preserves and wine at the end of autumn, but lets not get all misty eyed about it - our parents worked REALLY hard to keep us fed and clothed!