
Happy Days
Well that’s Christmas done and dusted - well almost. The decorations down in a day or so, to be packed away in the loft with yesteryears toys, dusty boxes of old photographs, and household ephemera; mostly junk - treasured memories. Another year over - a new year beckons ...
frosted fields
the distant woods
a purple haze
I grew up in a time when there was still ration books and petrol coupons. We had a meat safe and milk was collected from the local farm. We were lucky my parents kept chickens and geese - so we never wanted for eggs. Cheese bacon and ham came from the village Co-Op - I was fascinated by the bacon slicer. Cheese of course cut from the round.
We had electricity but no running water. Weekly baths were in an old galvanised tub in front of the open fire. The loo was a hundred yard sprint - well that’s what it seemed like - to a ramshackle shed at the bottom of the garden where we had an Elsan and a touch of luxury - Jeyes toilet paper.
We didn’t have a washing machine either; Monday’s were always wash days and Mum would hang the washing out except for her undies as the next door neighbour had a ‘thing’ about these.
TB, Diphtheria and Lockjaw were rife and some of my classmates died. I had Measels, Mumps and Chicken Pox in fairly quick succession. I was lucky.
Happy days playing in the fields - roaming for miles. Always up for adventure I got into many scrapes - marooned on a tiny island - more a sodden tuft of grass in the nearby duck pond - playing ‘Treasure Island’, stuck down the sump of a disused opencast mine as I journeyed to the centre of the earth - a real wild child.
At night I’d have adventures being The Lone Ranger or Roy Rogers (I have a signed photo of him and Trigger somewhere) playing with my toy cowboys on the bedspread. Dad was an electrical engineer so we had a black and white TV he’d made. I never drew the curtains (and still don’t) so the moon would shine in. And I had an old oil lamp the other side from the window, which on dark nights threw weird shadows round the room. I was never ready for bed.
shadows across the counterpane chasing sleep
But in the morning I’d wake to the sound of sparrows chirping, cows mooing and a couple of Magpie chattering from a nearby Ash.
waking up
the sound of the day
waking up
(First published in Hedgerow #132)
Much the same as today ...
Happy days
Notes
Our house was the middle door - two up two down. I was always told it was part of an old Coaching Inn!
The house has long since been demolished. But it’s where I was born and every year - like ‘old moley’ in the ‘Wind in the Willows’ - I feel a pull; a hankering to go back ...
I think you have aptly done and dusted Christmas into a distant purple haze. Wonderful image!
Thank you! Rather hastily written (and unedited) but I’ve wanted to write a bit about my childhood for a long time – so in the early hours of this morning … going for a nap now!
Thank you! Loved this.
Thank you Josie! In part inspired by posts of your early childhood near Swindon. I haven’t been able to find the posts again or access any of the photos – if you can send me a link to any of the posts I’d love to read them again. Best wishes to you both for the coming year.
Thank you for the images. So many memories! Sorry to be terse, but I have to restrict comments as I was hacked and harassed. Be back soon.
Thanks for your comment. Sorry to hear of your problems. Hope it gets sorted soon.
Quite a story Clive! I have similar memories but on the edge of a town! We were lucky we had hot running water from a stove that was kept alight no matter what! A luxury! I remember visiting a friends house further out of town and they had dirt floors with chickens wandering around the house! I loved to visit him there because we another mile further and we were on the shore of Lough Neagh! Happy Days! Oh, how sophisticated we are now! How privileged!
We did have dirt floors but the landlord had tried to lay some sort of flags which Mum had done her best to cover with old bits of carpet. When it rained you had to be careful where you stepped or you got wet and dirty feet from the muddy water seeping through. It was wet enough that we used to have frogs hiding in the corners! I do remember a stove of sorts and a boiler for the washing but I think that had to be filled by buckets from the well. I loved it 😊
Just, lovely! I was also fascinated by the bacon slicer…
Thank you Helen. It does seem we have had some similar experiences in life. Perhaps an Aspie thing …
Reading this makes me think, “It’s so fun to be a person!”
All in all yes I think it’s fun to be a person. Thank goodness I have a good and long memory even though it sometimes feels a little dusty and cobwebby!
Happy New year Clive and thank you for the beautiful haikus and atmospheres
And a happy New Year to you Jane. I’m glad you’re still liking my writing. Thank you!
[…] This frosty hokku was composed by Clive Bennett and can be seen at this site. […]
I loved reading about these memories with your haiku Clive. Things change so much in a relatively short period of time. We also had a tin bath in front of the fire and a toilet in the yard, though I lived in a town. And there were probably many more birds singing when I was young than there are now!
Thank you Andrea. It all seems as if it was only a moment ago – so many memories and all so vivid. And yes birds were singing and the sun was shining – all the time!