Re: Bag or sack

Frances Kemmish <fkemmish@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> had it:

the Omrud wrote:
John Dean <john-dean@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> had it:

One added purpose of the coal fire when I were a lad was that it heated the
hot water boiler which was located behind the living room fireplace. If you
wanted hot water, you had to light a fire, even at the height of summer.

Quite. Known as a "back boiler". We had an immersion heater as well
(our house was built in 1953) but you had to switch this on an hour
before you wanted a bath.

My parents' council house was built in 1949 - my father moved their
possessions in while my mother was in the maternity home for my birth -
and had a built-in range with a coal fire and back boiler. There was a
small cast iron stand which could be swung across the fire to allow a
kettle to be boiled. There was also a gas-fired copper to boil the
washing in.

We had one of those, although it was enameled steel. You lit the gas
jets underneath and they heated up the water in the tub. Stirring of
the washing had to be done by hand, and there was a mangle which
could be swung into position at the top. I have no idea how it was
emptied - there must have been a tap at the bottom.

The kitchen had no space for a cooker, so my parents had a
gas cooker installed in the wash-house, which was next to the kitchen.

When either the washing tub or the oven was lit in the kitchen, we
had to be careful about opening the back door as the wind could
easily blow the gas out - the gas jets were fully exposed at the
bottom of these. No safety cutouts of course, so one might die from
town gas poisoning, or even have one's cake spoiled.

--
David
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