Open Writing

I kept losing weight and no amount of food would put it back on again. Up and down our long flight of stairs would keep any body slim but the Doctor forever on the watch, didn't like what he was seeing and called in unexpectedly one day when I was baking bread. I just loved the feel of the dough and the smell of the hot bread but he took a different view saying "You can stop that at once, no wonder you are losing weight". So that was something I had to stop doing for a while.

The boys had to wash the dishes at the weekend also. Susan saw to that, if she had to do it, why shouldn't they do it also, so Saturday teatime was Rod's turn with Alan on a Sunday, keenly watched by Sue. She often took a bribe if one of them was in a hurry to go somewhere. One shilling would see her doing the dishes for one or the other.

Lovely confectionery was in the shops. We would have a treat when I picked up the bread for the weekend, getting cream cakes for tea and chocolate covered cream biscuits for our morning coffee. How nice it was not to worry about getting fat. They sold individual pies also, filled with fruit with a large blob of fresh cream on top, for two pence. Oh why have the prices escalated so much?

My smallest daughter reached school age. She went just before she was five in the September intake, when they started the new year after the long Summer holidays. She looked much too small to be doing this. The house was so lonely without any tiny feet at the back of me and the endless chatter and questions of a four year old. She was more ready for school, than I was seeing her go.

All the children had school dinners now and canteens were supplied for the workers in both the textile and the engineering, so I had a full day without interruption now, after taking the little ones to school. They didn't need uniforms yet but Winter tunics in plaid were smart and warm. You could buy them warm underwear. It's as well, the Winter could be very cold. It's a pity tights were not used earlier, though woollen coats, gloves and hats with scarves tucked around the neck, kept them all cosy. Shoes were still polished.

I remember Sunday evenings were always taken up getting the girls things ready for Monday morning. Three pairs of shoes polished, socks were still darned and overalls patched, though only Cliff wore these. And buttons back on shirts, until I taught my boys to do this for themselves, some good laughs we had about this, as Alan thought you put the knot in the cotton next to the eye of the needle. How he thought he could sew a button this way, I don't know. He may have been a bright lad but it was the little mundane jobs that puzzled him. Rod was the same, David seemed to be able to care for himself more at a younger age. They still thought the female did a better job of these sorts of things and they would be the bread winner.