Wednesday 24 March 2010

Childhood chores....

Me and hubby were talking about childhood chores that we used to have to do as children to help around the house. Mine used to be to iron all the hankerchiefs on a Sunday morning and there used to be loads...Mums Dads mine and my 2 brothers. I didn't mind doing Mums as they were so pretty with embroidered edgings and lace corners etc...but the big ones yeuk!!!! and then of course there was the shoe cleaning to do several pairs lined up, actually used to share this job with my Dad there was an old dresser in what we used to call our "breakfast room" in the home I grew up in the dresser was built in with huge great drawers and doors under and for some reason Dad kept all the shoe polishes etc in there....hmm! couldn't see that happen knowadays. Does anybody clean shoes anymore or get shoes heeled, or is it just me? Another job, cleaning out the fire grate, used to loathe that job back then....oh and used to have to polish the wood floorboards either side of the carpet runner in the hallway, the hall was long Mum and Dad used to live in a Victorian terrace house and it was big but so very very cold, no central heating then....the hallway used to run from the beautiful front door mosaic glass entrance vestibule along from hallway, down 5 steps to another hallway, along there and then down 2 more steps to back lounge...polishing seemed to take me for ever....and then of course there were the jobs to help my Grandma....oh the joy of using an old turn handle wringer to wring the clothes, it used to fill me with glee to put the clothes through 2 or 3 times so they came out cardboard stiff......such sweet memories.....what are yours?

4 comments:

Dawn said...

My worst chore had to be filling up the coal scuttle - the coal shed was horrible and spidery.
Me and my brother used to fight over it.
Less horrid jobs - setting the table for dinner and making the custard!

bellaboo said...

I used to love polishing the silver and cooking the Sunday roast! Didn't like helping with the washing-up though!

Bellaboo :0)

lemonade kitty said...

Wow, sounds like a very grand house you lived in. Do you know I love polishing shoes and ironing clothes but mam didn't and we had a lady who "ironed" for us.

Russell said...

I remember my dad having a shoe polishing kit, and I liked the smell of the polish when he'd get it out to polish his shoes. It's a really early memory though. I don't think that my dad wore dress shoes to his job as a college teacher by the time I was eight or nine. Things were pretty casual here in California by the mid seventies.

Chores? Well, I did often set the table, but my poor mother should have had us dong more, but instead I spent most of my free time reading or sneakily watching T.V.