Winter is upon us and I for one don’t like dark days and cold nights. How things change when you get older.
As a child, one of seven children living on a small farm things were so different to what they are now. We had no central heating, just a coal fire in the downstairs living room, and no heating at all upstairs. You could scrape the ice off the inside of the windows! We would go to bed and snuggle up to each other to keep warm. My mum would use old pot water bottles to warm the bed.
Our first job on a morning was to light the fire with kindling and coal. We lived down a small country lane and had to walk about two miles to school. But before we went to school, we would feed the livestock and carry out whatever jobs needed doing.
You can imagine we went to school smelling of pig muck and we weren’t popular with teachers or other pupils, yet these were the happiest times of my life.
My father ran a pig and poultry business. This meant he would go out buying poultry and we would then process the poultry ready for the table. We would come home from school, clean and feed the livestock and then spend hours and hours plucking hens, particularly at Christmas when we would often work past midnight! This was before mechanisation and everything was done by hand. It might sound like we were exploited but we loved our lifestyle and we always had plenty of food which was rare during the war.
Our summer times were special too. We would spend all day harvesting the fields from dawn til dusk and occasionally playing hide and seek in the long cornfields. It was hard work but didn’t do us any harm, my five brothers and one sister all have the same strong work ethic and have all achieved great things in life. Although my three eldest brothers could never read or write, they all ended up doing very well in Canada.
I suppose I better stop rambling and mention antiques! We are having problems in the shop due to a lack of new stock. It would be great if you could have a bit of a clear out and sell us some of your old bits and pieces. I will call out to you with pleasure and make you an offer for anything old or interesting even just one item. You have absolutely no obligation to sell, and I don’t mind if I don’t buy anything at all. Please just give me a call.
Thank you, and season’s greetings to everyone.
Please see advert below for contact details and opening times.
