Memories

Hi

I've been thinking about yesterdays post and it got me pondering and I believe that the reason that I like white ironed sheets is down to my Nan.....

I remember when I was small, my Nan and Granddad had an old house with a scullery type kitchen. I can remember my Nan having to boil the water, on the stove and then pour it into a big barrel, out on the yard - the washing would go into this and then she had a thing called a 'posh' in our parts which was a broom handle with a brass round thing on the end that you would use to bash the dirt out of the washing.

From there, the washing would go through an old fashioned mangle and then back into the big white stone sink (which I would give anything to have now!) where everything was thoroughly rinsed through and then it went through the mangle again. If it was 'whites' like sheets or net curtains then it would then be put back in the sink, but this time the rinse water would have a 'blue bag' in it and your whites then came out a lovely bluey white - then it was out onto the washing line, to blow dry.

People had pride in hanging out a line full of snowy white washing in those days.

Then, she had a twin tub and the washing would go through the different processes, but still there was the 'blue bag' and if it was needed starch would be mixed up in the enamel bowl and the collars and cuffs were dipped into that.

Everything was then ironed properly, with a hot iron and a damp tea towel if something might go shiny with the iron or if something was really badly creased. No steam irons in those days.

I'm sure that it's these memories of my Nan toiling away, whistling as she worked, in that freezing cold scullery, that keeps me ironing those damn sheets each week!

I remember the cooker that she had in that scullery - it was a proper old fashioned gas cooker and I remember that when North Sea Gas first came out, everyone had to have their cooker altered to manage this type of gas - I remember my Nan moaning that the food didn't taste the same after North Sea Gas!

She was a brilliant cook and her meals always tasted beautiful - I would do anything to stop at my Nan and Granddad's when I was little, just to be able to sit and tuck in to whatever she had cooked. The only things I couldn't eat was when they had rabbit for tea or my Granddad would have pigs trotters sometimes.

But I tucked into what ever else she cooked with gusto! I've always tried to cook like my Nan, she was very much into slow cooking and she could bake a lovely fruit cake. That's one thing I have inherited from her, I can bake a decent fruit cake (My Mom says that I'm just like her for that)

 Funny how memories  can stick and still influence you 51 years later isn't it? The winds really blowing today - I wonder if she's got those snowy white sheets out on the washing line up in heaven, today?

Have a good day  xxx