A Woman's Work...........

A woman's work is never done........well that's sure used to be true. Now we have so many conveniences that I think the modern day woman does not know how lucky she is. My Mother worked for as long as I can remember. She worked in a shop behind the counter waiting on people. Even that was not as it is today. The customer told the clerk what they wanted and it was taken off the shelf by the clerk and put on the counter to be rung up. Friday was a big day as they also had to fill orders as shops closed most of the time at noon on Saturday, so if you didn't get what was needed for the weekend you did without till Monday unless you could get it from a neighbour. How often does your neighbour come over to borrow a cup of sugar these days? I think Mum worked for every shop in the village at some time or other.

When she got home from work it was time to start supper as she didn't get in till after 6pm and Dad got home after 7pm and supper was ready to serve. He would eat by the fire. Then the washing up had to be done. Weekends was house cleaning and laundry. All done by hand. Imagine in today's world doing your laundry in the kitchen sink. Then ironing it all because the "perma press" had not yet been invented


By the time I got married not a lot had changed in England at least not in my world. After we got married we rented a place in Bedford. A house with 2 bedrooms, a living room and dining plus a small kitchen. The neighbours were Italian and did not speak English, most of the other people on the street were either Indian or Pakistani. Gerry was still in the Air Force so he worked all hours. We had a bathroom off of our bedroom and although my laundry was done in the kitchen sink I had to wash big things like sheets upstairs in the tub. Then take it down and outside to hang on the line. Well one day Laura who was 4 threw up on my bed. I had to wash sheets and blankets in the tub, that was nasty. Then I had to haul everything downstairs and outside to hang on the line. The line broke and everything fell in the dirt. I had to do the whole process again. I was pregnant at the time so that was fun.

On cold days the washing would freeze on the line. My babies nappies/diapers were boiled in a large pan on the stove then hung out to dry. When we first came to the States I continued to do that until the magic of disposables came along, by then I had another baby. So thank heaven that changed. All my kids were born in England and Justin was just 3 months when we came here, Jason about 18 months. Laura was around 5. I had my hands full for quite some time, until we built our first house. Dishes done by hand, laundry done by hand.

Back at my Mums house when we first moved in to Bidwell Hill there was no hot water, the toilet was outside and the house had just been converted from gas light to electricity. The only heat was a coal fire. That was Dad's job. He stoked the fire at night and got up to get it going in the morning. On Saturday the stove in the kitchen was lit for hot water for a bath. During the week we boiled water in a large pan on the stove. The bath room was cold brick and concrete floors. There was a gas copper to boil water in there but it took forever and was not practical for every day, done on weekends to help with laundry where the whites could be "boiled". I remember when we came here that I asked at Max's service if they had a "boiler" you know? to boil clothes in? The guys said "Boil clothes here lady and you won't have anything left" I must have seemed very strange to him.

I did love getting a dishwasher and a large fridge. Something I never had before. We had a tiny refrigerator in Bedford and I think at some point Mum did too but it was just for things like Milk and leftovers. Certainly not big enough to hold anything substantial. The milkman left the milk on the door step or in summer in the outside drain to stay cool. In Winter it froze and the Bluetits got the cream. At my grandmothers home she just had a "safe" and mesh wooden cupboard that just kept the flys off the meat. No fridge for her. You could have a pretty mesh cover to put over the meat as it sat on the table. The bread was from the bakers and butter was always on the table. Cheese in a cheese dish, nothing refrigerated.


We had to sweep the floors in the early days and at Bedford I didn't have a vacuum so used a broom. The kitchen and bathrooms, well, you got down on knees and used a scrubbing brush. Did that at Mums house. Why didn't we have mops I have no idea, wasn't like it was a new invention. Mum had tile on the floor and that had to be polished. I remember doing Mrs MacDonald's kitchen floor on my hands and knees. I don't remember why we didn't have mops. Now here's a thing I don't understand either. When I lived in Bedford, everyone polished the front door step. You could get a red polish and all the ladies did that, so naturally so did I. Pathways were swept to the curb and although our front yard was walled and gated one still swept the sidewalk. It was just done.

Cleaning windows was always fun, especially upstairs. You sat on the window ledge closed the window onto your legs and hung outside to clean. Yup, I did that too. Now I do not do windows outside no sir. A hose is good if needed. Back then the "windowlene" was a sort of pink paste that you smeared on and polished off with newspaper. A housewife working or not still had all this to do. Nothing was easy. So when children came along the work was doubled and tripled. All the normal chores were still there to do. Men were not expected to do anything domestic. I remember my dad vacuuming in later years when mum had been in hospital. Other than that he was always working. In the week until 7 and on Saturdays he did some gardening jobs to earn extra money and because he liked doing it. Gave him a little spending money. The man was generally in charge of the money and the lady of the house had her housekeeping money. When it was gone it was gone so she had to be thrifty. No credit cards back then.

There were some conveniences though. Mr Green who was our milkman also came around with fresh vegetables for sale driving his horse and cart. The Baker would deliver bread and take orders at the door and often the butcher would do the same. Everything was always fresh. We seldom used canned things. Must have been much healthier back then.

The rag and bone man came around periodically with his horse and cart picking up scrap metal and household items that would not normally go in the dust bin. A nice convenience and gave a few pennies for the scrap. Not much was wasted. My Dad and Mr Mole and Mr Miller would watch those horses for any sign of poop to get for their roses. The were all keen gardeners.

We learned to cook over a coal fire because the electricity or gas would often go out on us. Strikes were common and when the people went on strike for more pay we would have to cook on the fire. Either that or you didn't have a coin for the meter. Then again, things like crumpets and toast were the best toasted over the fire with thick creamy butter on. I think most of us of a certain age could still get by if we had to in a world turned back. We kept candles on hand and matches and survived. I remember being shocked when we were here in Michigan and one of Gerrys brothers showed up at our door with their family because the furnace was out. Well they were very welcome but secretly I thought they were wimps. Haha. We just added coats to our cold beds and hugged the dog and hot water bottles. We grew up with no heat in the house so froze most winters waking up to frost on the windows and snow on the sills as it blew through the cracks. In England it was a damp cold that went to the bones. Pipes froze and burst often. One Winter my Aunt and uncle had to come get water from our house every day when the pipes froze under the main road and they could not get it fixed till Spring. Such were the times we lived in.




My bed, well all the beds had springs and a mattress made of something fluffy that would wad up inside, so had to be shaken out and turned when making the bed. The only good thing was one could make a nest in it and snuggle down to stop the drafts. Many nights I remember putting on my hat and gloves and hugging Poppett coats on top of the bed covers. In the springtime Mum would dust the springs out with a duster on a stick and open all the windows to get rid of the dust. There was a fireplace in her bedroom but for some reason they never used it. I would have. We had a chamber pot under the bed for night time use. Who wants to go outside to the loo in the middle of the night in a storm or winter. I remember sitting out there in a thunderstorm once, it was scary. Newspaper did for toilet paper because it was better than what was available at the time. Izal. Who remembers Izal. Ugh......
It seemed that back in those days there were many conveniences also, we lost most of them. It's actually funny to see some of them coming back. Stores have started delivery services again, charge for it now though. The best thing was when Doctors came to the house. I don't think we will ever see that again.

Things have changed for sure and now people have TV on all day from the time they get up in the morning. Women would never get done what we had to back then. No TV for us. My last two children were born at home in my own bed. Doctor and midwife attending. Well the doctor was not there but the midwife was. So much nicer than hospital birth.
Anyway, must get on, a woman's work is never done.