When living in a warm sunny climate I often was reminded of the quote "the sun is shining again today but why do I have to go out and enjoy it"? As an antidote to the sunshine I used to think how satisfying to be sitting in a room looking out of the window as the storm lashed about outside and we warm and snug inside.
After what has been the most prolonged spell of poor weather for as long as records have been kept I think sunshine has won the day !!
Inside the small houses that most people over here live in massive improvements have been effected so if the square meterage is much the same, the heating and the lighting, the connections to the outside world TV and internet and through the internet, huge opportunities with on-line music catalogues, skype and video communication, google maps which take you anywhere and everywhere, a limitless
accessibility to information and yes, if you must, on-line shopping.
When I think of our house back in the 40s, pre the TV era with only the radio and a limited number of 78 rpm, shellac records to play, on a wind-up record player.
When it was cold outside it was cold inside too with only a small coal fire to heat the whole house. The fire also heated the water which was plumbed as far as the kitchen tap, there was no bathroom or toilet inside the house.
The bath was a zinc bath which, on Friday night was brought into the kitchen for the family to get a weekly bath. Hot water being precious was ladled into the bath, a pan full at a time and each member of the family had to queue to use the same water. Dad always got the wrong end of the stick
and was last in, by then it must have been soupy !
To go to the toilet meant a trip down the path, outside to
a small stone shed like room in which the toilet sat cold and foreboding, spiders and other creepy crawlies waiting to pounce.
Going to the toilet wasn't fun for a young lad with a vivid imagination.
So you see we have travelled far but the overcast sky is still with us !!!
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