As I mentioned the other day, Irene Waters has started a new monthly challenge on her blog, Reflections and Nightmares, called Times Past

Irene says …

I’d like to invite you to join with me in a prompt challenge that will give us social insights into the way the world has changed between not only generations but also between geographical location. The prompt can be responded to in any form you enjoy – prose, poetry, flash, photographs, sketches or any other form you choose. You may like to use a combination of the two. I will also add a series of questions for those that would like to join in but don’t know where to start.

Coming home from hospital. Mum’s laundry nightmare begins!

I fall into the Baby Boomers category, having been born in 1955.

Baby Boomers

Boom Generation/Hippie 1946 -1964 Space Exploration/ first counter culture

Prompt 1: The first time I remember eating in a restaurant in the evening.

I missed the first prompt but left a comment. All I remember about eating in a restaurant for the first time is the feeling – I have no idea how old I was, where it was, nor the occasion. I wasn’t a child, though. I remember feeling like a country bumpkin. Luckily, I had a vague memory of which cutlery to use from Home Economic classes. However, for a long time, I thought the fish knife was a butter knife.

Prompt No 2. First memories of wash day.

Was it a ritual in your house. Did you have to play a part. What kind of washing machine did you have? Was it the sole province of the women of the household? What was the style of your clothes line? Any memories of doing the laundry you care to share. I am sure that we are going to find some differences both geographically and generational with this one. Help me prove myself right or show that I am wrong by joining in.

About 1959, a much younger me had just woken from my afternoon nap on the couch, which also served as my bed. I wrinkled my nose. What was that scorching smell?

I looked over at the open fire, wondering if a spark had landed on the floor. On the other side of the nappy-laden clotheshorse, a thin spiral of smoke drifted towards the ceiling. I got up to investigate.

Whoosh! The nappies exploded into flame. I ran across the yard separating this building from the kitchen as fast as my four-year-old legs would go. “Mum! Mum! The nappies are on fire!”

That is my first concrete memory I have of anything to do with the mechanics of the laundry.

Simpson Pope (Australia)

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