Cold days 1950s .............................

Long ago in the days of yore, or at least when I was young, our houses were not heated.
This picture, above, reminded me of those days.
Dad would take Poppett for her evening walk and when they came in Poppett would come upstairs to sleep with me. Sometimes she would be wet and the gravel would be on her little foot pads leaving me with little wet spots on the sheets. She slept under the covers with me, we would burrow into the mattress. Those old types that were made of stuffing and you could move it around to make a nest. We would cling together, she by my tummy and the hot water bottle at my back, and then I would put it on my feet for awhile. I would wear my coat and hat and anything else on my body to try to stay warm.Poppett had the best spot next to my tummy. Mid way through the night I would wake up because the water bottle was cold.Most of the time we would be warm enough by then but some nights were sleepless because we could not stay warm.

There would be a heavy pile of blankets on top and an Eiderdown to top it off. The frost would cling to the window panes and blow under the seams of the window casing. Nothing was air tight and you could feel the frosty breeze. This was typical of all but the most modern of houses, of which there were not many at that time but new estates came quicky in the 1950s. Bidwell Hill was built in the very early 1900s I suspect and had gas lights just prior to us moving in. There were still gas lights in the village then. It seems everything changed at the same time. I have written about all this before.
When my dad was a boy, he also lived in our village. At first they lived in the High Street in Houghton Regis.

When there were more kids than there was room for the older ones moved with the neighbours. I am not sure how often they moved unless I look it up, but they ended up in ST Omere in Cumberland St.

My Grandmother Hines's family also lived in the village. Her father was a shoemaker

Most of the houses had open fires and used coal and later Coak. I remember Dad had to make us a coal bunker when we moved into Bidwell Hill. The previous tenant kept the coal in the cupboard under the stairs in the living room. Bidwell Hill only had one fireplace and that in the living room. Dad would get up and "get the fire going" so the chill was off the room when we came down. Some times it was necessary to use newspaper over the fire front to "Draw the fire". Sometimes when the wind was blowing a certain way it would blow down the chimney and a cloud of smoke would fill the room. There was a fireplace in the big bedroom upstairs but was never used in our day. We also had a fire like a wood stove that was used once a week in the kitchen to heat our water. It was too expensive to keep two fires going.
I know that in St Omere there were fireplaces in the living room and parlour and a wood stove in the big room that Nan cooked on sometimes before the more modern gas stove was put in the kitchen.
My other grandparents house had fireplaces in both rooms too. No one had central heat. Only very new houses had that luxury. Our water was boiled on the stove top for washing every day and in a boiler for laundry. We would use that to heat water for a bath as well more often than not.

My Great Grandmother died when her clothes caught fire, she had an oil lamp next to her chair. She dropped a coin and knocked it over as she bent to pick it up. I found and read the newspaper account when doing my family history. Her mother in law (I believe it was) was bed ridden upstairs at the time. I guess she managed to get to the door and someone saw her and called for help. She lived a week with her injuries. I can not even imagine the agony the poor woman endured. A lot of people caught clothing on fire back in those days, well actually right up until they began to put fire retardant in children's night clothes. A bad habit was for women to put a mirror over the fire place. I know I used that mirror to do my makeup so know how easy it would be to catch your clothes on fire.
Another wonderful non luxury that went along with the freezing cold rooms was the outside loo.


The picture of my cousins sitting on a bench outside the bath room and toilet at ST Omere. On Bidwell Hill at least the bath was inside. At St Omere it was more primitive back in the day. It was at least attached to the house but was accessible from outside too for some reason. A very cold concrete and brick room with no luxuries. Ours also was brick and concrete but was painted and had a rug on the floor. During the night if one needed to use the loo, it was going downstairs and outside for you, unless you chose the "Chamber Pot" under the bed. That led to some great laughs after Gerry moved in. Although the toilet was inside by then, we still had no heat and had to go downstairs, so he tried the "pot" under the bed. I about died laughing. Not being a guy I had no idea how he was supposed to use it. My Dad's job was to empty them and would I think delight in embarrassing me by doing so when I had a boyfriend over. Being Harry, he was not discreet about it.

Another non luxury in those old Council Houses were the gas and electric meters. Just as we would all be huddled around the fire, burning cheeks and freezing backs, there would be a loud thunk............and the lights would go out. Get out the torch and hunt for coins for the meter. If you didn't have the right coins it would be run next door and ask Mrs Mac, do you have change for the meter please? It happened to us all. Gas and electric were on the meter. A man would come every so often to empty the meters, see how much you had actually used and sometimes you would get money back. If you didn't have the coins no worry, there were always candles.
I still think of that as the good old days but I sure don't know why. However maybe my blood is made for that because I like my bedrooms cold and have windows open even on snowy winter days here in Michigan.