"JUST listening to the very elderly relative of a friend in her house recently," said the speaker, "I wonder how we could get on with oil lamps for lighting, well water brought twice daily from a few hundred yards away in enamel buckets, and dry closet lavatories? For transport, a horse and trap, if you could afford them. If not, you walked, or cycled."
He had got his answer already, in these terms: "It seemed then, to us as children, that dragging the heavy buckets of water up the hill was the worst thing of all. As to the light, you had a soft, friendly glow over your corner of the table as you did your lessons, and if you wanted to go about in the house, you learned to carry a small lamp with you. Or you might be lucky enough to have a pocket torch.
"The house was spotless. The boss had been a ship's captain on coastal vessels, and everywhere the paint gleamed and the brasses shone. As to the emptying of the dry closet, he did it all, early in the morning, and there was a plentiful manure heap nearby. All white washed inside, the lavatory, of course. And out in the yard, naturally. In this particular house, there had been a death through TB and the only milk consumed was goat's; for they were held to be TB free. I don't remember how many they were, but all visitors complimented the hostess on the lovely tea; for goat's milk is said to be very sweet in it.
"Bread was baked every day, on the griddle. White soda farls, and wheaten. Also treacle farls and some made with yellow meal. Fish, oddly, was plentiful in the summer, and was brought round several times a week, in a van. We walked to school, of course, about two miles away. And to church, which was about three. There was only one private car in the area, a widow, supposed to be wealthy. She had a companion, anyway. There was one jaunting car for summer trade, but he could also get the horse out for other occasions.
"We helped in the fields. We did a bit of swimming in the summer - the sea was only four or five fields away. The big excitement in the summer was a regatta held within walking distance. And sometimes holiday visitors from Belfast, which was about 25 miles away, would take you for a trip to Larne or Whitehead. My chief memory of these houses was how clean they were, and how marvellous was the bread and cakes that were done on the griddle or baked in a small coal range.
"No, in answer to your question, I prefer my present house with its running water, its Aga cooker, its electricity and, need I say, its TV."