Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Those were the days

Doing lunges this morning my right knee suddenly went oah-ar. I eased up on it and the pain passed but it's come back again this afternoon. I say pain; I mean the odd twinge. Nothing to worry about.

Interesting facts learned in slimming class today. 
1) We (women) eat 600 fewer calories per day than we did in the 1950s.
2) Yet our waists are 7" bigger.
3) The average dress size today is 16 compared to 7 years ago when it was 12.

I remember my granny doing the washing on Mondays. She'd put the copper on and then scrub all the clothes before putting them through the mangle and hanging them on the line. It would take best part of the day to do the laundry for the 5 of us (great-gran, gran, gramps, mum and me).

She bought all the food in the shops in the village and carried it home back up the hill, where she'd cook it all fresh. She often quoted her mother, when faced with a large grocery bill, as saying, 'I'd rather pay the grocer than the doctor.'

Then there was her large collection of brass that she'd regularly put aside a morning to polish. All that apart from the other daily chores like lighting the fire and keeping it going, bringing in the coal, cleaning out the fire etc etc. Little wonder she could eat more calories and still stay fit. Admittedly she wasn't skinny but well-built but she needed to be to turn that mangle. Ours was bigger this and I used to love to help although she'd soon take over as I'd fail to make much impression on the handle.
Bolsover Junior school photo

5 comments:

CherryPie said...

I remember my Mum used to have a mangle similar to that!

nick said...

I remember my mum was always on the go from first thing in the morning to last thing at night. She didn't have much time to sit around. And we didn't have a car until I was in my late teens so we did a lot more walking. It's not surprising people were slimmer in those days.

Apparently the reason so many people are putting on weight despite eating fewer calories is that they spend more time sitting and get less exercise.

Leslie: said...

When I was a stay-at-home Mom, my days were very busy, too. Even when the girls went to school, I was up early and once they were off, out came the broom for the kitchen floor, then the vacuum, then the dust cloth, and I'd check their beds were made (along with ours), do the washing and the folding once they were dry (we use dryers here) and if there was time, have a coffee with a friend or two. Then there was the charity work at the church that I had to fit in plus the grocery shopping and making meals! Whew!! How did I manage all that??? Now I'm tired just waking up in the morning! lol

mrsnesbitt said...

Monday - always washing day!

Liz Hinds said...

They were big heavy things, cherrypie.

Absolutely, nick. And now children grow up not running around so much so there is very little hope for them.

I know what you mean, leslie!

The world over, mrs n!