Good Times

A Memory of Four Ashes.

Good times. No electric, log fires, paraffin lamps, everything cooked on the old faithful black lead grate which I had to clean every week.
No running water - my job every night when I got home from school was to get the yoke off the wall and fetch two buckets of drinking water from a communial pump at the end of the lane. The water got to the pump from a fresh water spring a mile away, this was pumped up to the pump well by what they call a ram, which had no power to it but worked by pressure only. The yoke I refered to was a piece of wood which fitted across your shoulders and around your neck, with two chains on each end with hooks which you hooked onto the handles of the buckets.
My school was at Enville which was three miles away. I had to walk to and from five days a week. I walked bare foot most of the time so as not to wear my shoes out - got told off by Mom in the summer because I used to put my toes in the road tar bubbles and Mom had to get it off with paraffin. Yes we had hot summers in them days. Weekends were helping dad on the farm, milking cows all by hand. We did have a tractor and some horse's - I walked miles up and down field behind them come rain or shine. Then at seven I learned to drive the tractor, a standard Fordson. Then life on the farm got easier, except in the winter, and they were very harsh in them days - out all hours. Worst was when it was lambing time - you did not know when you would get home. Good times and I mean that. I also remember we had prisoner of war soldiers on the farm, young lads, 17/18 yrs old to help. I remember one Christmas they carved birds out of wood and gave them to us to put on our Christmas tree, plus they made Mom, Dad and me slippers out of binder twine. As I said, good times. I lived in Grove Cottage Bradbury Lane.

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