"Oh, look! We had one of those".
"So did we, only ours was blue..."
"We", in that context, referred to our parents' homes.
But there were also things that P-w-l-t and I had at one time or another.
"I wonder what became of our...?"
"Have we still got our...?"
And so the conversations continued as we wandered back and forth through the living room, the kitchen, the 1950s shop and so on.
Did Mum's teapot like this one end up in the loft or does GB have it or has it gone to a charity shop at some time.
Mum's first phone was similar to this one - it had a dial with letters and numbers. Later ones only had numbers when exchanges like "Stoneycroft" became "228".
We still have, and use, the juicer shown in this photo but I'm not sure if the sugar pourer is still around.
This museum could solve some of the problems about what to do with items in the loft that we no longer want/need but which are in too poor a condition to give to a charity shop.
We hang onto things that have memories and our children will dump them when we die.
ReplyDeleteIt's amazing how many vintage kitchen items have stood the test of time, and are still usable today! I have a 1950s Waring blender (cherry red), an electric hand mixer (teal blue), and several non-electrical kitchen tools, as well. I love to wonder what housewife had them before me...
ReplyDeleteBut we never had a Tretchikoff did we?
ReplyDeleteOh, that wonderful vanilla yellow kitchen furniture! I'd love a kitchen like that, only without the high chair and a little less cluttery (I know it has to be, so that all the items can be on show).
ReplyDeleteMy grandparents' place was still very 1950s until the mid-to-late 1970s, when they changed a lot around the house - not all for the better, I'm afraid.
The black backelite telephones were standard here, too.
It is fun to walk through such places and be reminded of another time. Was life really simpler then, or is it just nostalgia?
ReplyDeleteI still have the juicer.
ReplyDeleteIt's really something. What I called the stereo, my father called the Victrola. Originally, we had a four digit phone number and a party line. My father was manager of a truck line and so needed a private line at home, making us the first household in our neighborhood to have a private line. The neighbors thought we were putting on airs!
When making a long distance call, you called the operator, who then called the long distance operator. If you couldn't get through, you could instruct the operator to try the call for an hour or so, which she would do. She'd call you back if she got your party on the line.
Operators were all women. The phone company tried hiring men - college kids, mainly - but discovered that the men got bored and would play switchboard games in the name of fun. Women took their job seriously and would be genuinely helpful.
Nice post.