I’m going back, and I mean way back! Sitting here in this empty space reminiscing about ’em golden school dazes. Wouldn’t it be awesome if we could turn back in time? Knowingly, things were not as costly. One could even feel safe in their own home, or car.
Do you recall those ole’ and golden school dazes? After reading this post, what can you add to the golden list? Now, don’t be shy, give us a bit of history!
- The old-fashioned washboard. This washboard was used to hand wash clothing. We had one! Great ‘cause it used less water and saved on electricity. You could count the number of times, you’d scrape your knuckles?
- If you were unable to buy a clothes wringer, you used a mop bucket to wring the excess water out of your clothes. We had to do that, too! Before the electric wringer washers, there was the hand-operated wringer washer. These were designed to attach to the side of a washtub. The wringer washer pulled the clothes into the soap and sudsy water. There were choices to get; powered by electricity, by gas, or by hand – equipped with pumps or no pump. We finally got one of these, too!
- The steel galvanized washtub was used for washing clothes. And kettles of heated water were added to take a bath.
- Used for the black and white TV screen, putting plastic screens on the TV set. The screen’s film was thin and a flimsy piece of plastic designed to stick to the TV screen. The top part was blue (for the sky); the middle piece was reddish tint, and the bottom portion was green (to depict the grass). Great for transforming the black-and-white set into color. And the cost for this item was very inexpensive. Way cheaper than buying a color TV set which costs hundreds of duckies.
- When you could always leave home, sleep with the doors unlocked, and the windows opened. This was the good ole’ dazes – ‘cause the neighbors had your back, then.
- When you could leave your keys in the car and not worry about them being taken. Nor did you have to worry about a break-in.
- Those early phone users picked up a phone and cranked the handle. The operator would answer. Okay, that’s going back a bit too far.
- How about phones with no buttons? And the American Bell Company added their service for those rotary dial phones. Which contained a plastic disc in front with holes for dialing. The numbers were assigned three letters (e.g. ABC assigned to number 2).
- How about the padlock for those rotary phones? Parents would put the lock on to prevent their kids from using it while they were away (i.e., mainly at work).
- The cast iron teapots and kettles Teapots were never used on a stove or opened fire. Great for brewing or steeping tea.
- The portable Royal Classic Manual Typewriter used a ribbon and a bottle of white-out. When making a mistake used the white-out to type over; otherwise, you’d turn around and retype the whole darn thing.
- Correction type was a great use for people who didn’t have a sturdy hand.
- There was No Caller I.D. Service. You’d answer the phone without knowing whose calling.
Photo image courtesy of Wesley Hilario:
Photo images courtesy of Clem Onojeghuo
