Whilst ironing the other evening I was musing
on how quickly I was getting through the pile of washing with my super-steamy iron. With all my gadgets, gizmos and state of the
art domestic appliances things are nowhere near as time consuming and difficult as they were when I was first married. I may still moan about
doing the housework but it’s nothing compared to what it used to be like ... and not even close to the sheer physical labour my mother had to do!
While in the ‘ironing zone’ I did one of those time-warp, flashback thingies to back when I was a child (whirly special effect can be inserted here). There was Mum ironing the laundry with a heavy, clunky old iron and having to use a damp cloth if she needed to steam the creases out of anything. And all that laundry had been washed in a boiler, rinsed in the sink and then put through the mangle!
Ah, the mangle! I remember that well. Mum used it for squeezing the water out of
the washing and dad used it for crushing sticks of rhubarb when he was making
wine (no, I’m not joking – he really did).
Times change. And when they do it’s fast. New inventions suddenly appear and are accepted so quickly it's as if we have never been without them. It's hard enough to imagine life before the internet or mobile phones; but what was it like without electricity, running water or flushing toilets? All these innovations must have revolutionised the lives of the average family.
The Domestic Revolution Explained by Stan Yorke was
certainly an eye-opener for me. Just a
hundred years ago barely half the country had gas and very few people had
electricity. Domestic life has changed
so dramatically over the decades - it's fascinating to see just how we have
progressed.
For a full list of our titles please visit our website www.countrysidebooks.co.uk
Wishing you all 'domestic bliss'
Deb
No comments:
Post a Comment