That old outside lav

[grinder 10]

When those cold snowy or wet nights come around, I still give thanks to God I don't have to cross the yard to an outside toilet.

If you've never had the pleasure you've never lived, on really frosty night we had to have a couple of candles in there to stop the pipes freezing, and there were times we had to trudged to the bog in Wellington's, hat, gloves and an overcoat..

Then there were those neat squares of news paper, stuck on a nail in the white washed wall, and this was back in the days when news paper print easily came off on your hands, and contained arsenic. ( no pun intended)....

 

 

It makes you wonder how we survived dunit....

[hillsbro 28]

Oh the nostalgia.... You woke up in the morning, snug in bed. Most of you was warm enough but your nose-end was freezing. You could see a layer of ice on the inside of the the bedroom window, beyond which was a Christmas-card scene of snow lying deep and crisp and even. Grabbing a pullover you went down the stairs (two flights in our case - No 20 Dykes Hall Road was a cellar-kitchen house) and across the yard to the sub-zero outside lav. Someone had used the last square of Daily Herald from the nail on the back of the door and, of course, the Tilley lamp had gone out during the night and the cistern was frozen solid. Back to bed, having paused to put a match to the fire that had been laid the night before, hoping that by the time you had to get up for school the living-room would be several degrees above zero. The good old days!.

[me-and-pippo 12]

Oh the nostalgia.... You woke up in the morning, snug in bed. Most of you was warm enough but your nose-end was freezing. You could see a layer of ice on the inside of the the bedroom window, beyond which was a Christmas-card scene of snow lying deep and crisp and even. Grabbing a pullover you went down the stairs (two flights in our case - No 20 Dykes Hall Road was a cellar-kitchen house) and across the yard to the sub-zero outside lav. Someone had used the last square of Daily Herald from the nail on the back of the door and, of course, the Tilley lamp had gone out during the night and the cistern was frozen solid. Back to bed, having paused to put a match to the fire that had been laid the night before, hoping that by the time you had to get up for school the living-room would be several degrees above zero. The good old days!.

Next morning came with the task of filling a bucket with cold water from the brass tap on the sink,

and carrying it across the yard to flush your night soil away.

[Joto 11]

I remember those days in England in the 60s Broomspring Lane, 2 up 2 down. The toilet was across the yard, we endured all the things just mentioned, plus rats! Yes the biggest rats you'd ever seen, one night a furry warm body ran over my foot while I was sat on the toilet. I ran across that yard still pulling my trousers up. Was I ever glad when we got a home in Stocksbridge, we were

n't lucky enough to get a house on the Cross.

[natural man 10]

Unfortunately we did not have a "water closet" ours was a vault. 2 holes, one for big bums the other small. Always a family outing last thing at night. Once playing hide and seek with my sister at another house in the village, where the toilet seat was highly polished my sister who was hiding in the lav and without shoes on (not to scratch the seat) was peering through the vent brick in the wall, slipped and fell in the vault. In her pretty Sunday best.

Oh dear I was upset.

 

Natural man.

[Plain Talker 11]

When those cold snowy or wet nights come around, I still give thanks to God I don't have to cross the yard to an outside toilet.

If you've never had the pleasure you've never lived, on really frosty night we had to have a couple of candles in there to stop the pipes freezing, and there were times we had to trudged to the bog in Wellington's, hat, gloves and an overcoat..

Then there were those neat squares of news paper, stuck on a nail in the white washed wall, and this was back in the days when news paper print easily came off on your hands, and contained arsenic. ( no pun intended)....

 

 

It makes you wonder how we survived dunit....

 

You never mentioned the dog-sized ( ) spiders which would lurk, out of sight, waiting till you were seated, before they came out to investigate you...

 

 

We were lucky. We lived where the loo was outside, across the yard, but each of the nine houses on our block were fortunate enough to have our own loo. We didn't have to share a privvy, thank God!

 

We were even better, thinking about it, because each of the three yards which made up our block all had their own washhouses, where the previous residents would have done their laundry every Monday.

 

For use kids, it was a great den, complete with a massive flat brown stone (Pot?) sink that ran the length of one wall.

 

We had a paraffin heater in our outside loo, to stop the cistern from icing up. I remember using a hurricane lantern to go "across the yard" in the wintertime, as it was pitch black,and there were no lights in the loo.

 

I remember the "posh-ies" had keys, to lock their loo. The wooden seat was finely carved, and solid. Some were lucky enough to have lavatory porcelain which had blue decorative designs on them, under the glaze.

 

I remember the old-fashioned "sneck" latch, too.

[beezerboy 12]

Then there were those neat squares of news paper, stuck on a nail in the white washed wall, and this was back in the days when news paper print easily came off on your hands, and contained arsenic. ( no pun intended)....

 

Nothing worse than printers rash. We used the Radio Times, it would be a fitting comment for todays TV

 

These stalls were the start of a beautiful but short romance,a mate of mine was wanting to meet a new girl in the yard but was a bit shy.I suggested he watch for her to go to the lav and speak to her on her way back. having exchanged good mornings ,he was stuck for words and blurted out, " hast tha bin for a s--- then "

 

'

[harestone 10]

 

These stalls were the start of a beautiful but short romance,a mate of mine was wanting to meet a new girl in the yard but was a bit shy.I suggested he watch for her to go to the lav and speak to her on her way back. having exchanged good mornings ,he was stuck for words and blurted out, " hast tha bin for a s--- then "

 

'

Had to log in just to post a at that.

[poppins 10]

Then there were those neat squares of news paper, stuck on a nail in the white washed wall, and this was back in the days when news paper print easily came off on your hands, and contained arsenic. ( no pun intended)....

 

Nothing worse than printers rash. We used the Radio Times, it would be a fitting comment for todays TV

 

These stalls were the start of a beautiful but short romance,a mate of mine was wanting to meet a new girl in the yard but was a bit shy.I suggested he watch for her to go to the lav and speak to her on her way back. having exchanged good mornings ,he was stuck for words and blurted out, " hast tha bin for a s--- then "

 

'

Please say.....and they lived happily ever after

[hillsbro 28]

Had to log in just to post a at that.

It's an owd 'un - it were in t' Twikker, c. 1967....

[harestone 10]

It's an owd 'un - it were in t' Twikker, c. 1967....

 

Aye, brings back memories of Bard street.

[echo beach 580]

Oh the nostalgia.... You woke up in the morning, snug in bed. Most of you was warm enough but your nose-end was freezing. You could see a layer of ice on the inside of the the bedroom window, beyond which was a Christmas-card scene of snow lying deep and crisp and even. Grabbing a pullover you went down the stairs (two flights in our case - No 20 Dykes Hall Road was a cellar-kitchen house) and across the yard to the sub-zero outside lav. Someone had used the last square of Daily Herald from the nail on the back of the door and, of course, the Tilley lamp had gone out during the night and the cistern was frozen solid. Back to bed, having paused to put a match to the fire that had been laid the night before, hoping that by the time you had to get up for school the living-room would be several degrees above zero. The good old days!.

 

Boy, you were posh Hillsbro. We had to make do with the Sunday Pictorial, which had to last all week!

You also forgot to put on your 'jerkin'. Don't hear of them any more, do we?