A fond memory I have is my billy cart my brother built using scrap materials dragged home from the local tip down the bottom of our street. The wheels were from a discarded pram, and the frame was from timber off-cuts from building sites after World War 2 ended.
We used to sell our old newspapers.
My Mum used to get The Sun, which is a smaller size (Tabloid) than The Age (broadsheet), so my Grandpa used to bring us his old Age newspapers for Mum to bundle up into long rolls and tie with string.
My sister and I would wheel the bundles up to the local greengrocer on our billy carts to sell for a penny a pound.
When we had threepence each, we could go for a swim at the local baths.
Absolute decadence!
Another use for the billy cart was taking the large glass bottle from the kerosene heater up to the local garage to get our quart of blue kerosene.
We were tiny little people, and had to be so careful.
We'd bring home the filled bottle, and Mum would quickly invert the bottle into the circle designed for it. She had to be super quick so not a drop was spilled.
She'd then have "power" to cook our tea...on the metal frame which sat over the burner.
We all sat huddled in the kitchen together, with the kerosene lanterns providing light.
Ah, happy memories pre-electricity.
We used to sell our old newspapers.
My Mum used to get The Sun, which is a smaller size (Tabloid) than The Age (broadsheet), so my Grandpa used to bring us his old Age newspapers for Mum to bundle up into long rolls and tie with string.
My sister and I would wheel the bundles up to the local greengrocer on our billy carts to sell for a penny a pound.
When we had threepence each, we could go for a swim at the local baths.
Absolute decadence!
Another use for the billy cart was taking the large glass bottle from the kerosene heater up to the local garage to get our quart of blue kerosene.
We were tiny little people, and had to be so careful.
We'd bring home the filled bottle, and Mum would quickly invert the bottle into the circle designed for it. She had to be super quick so not a drop was spilled.
She'd then have "power" to cook our tea...on the metal frame which sat over the burner.
We all sat huddled in the kitchen together, with the kerosene lanterns providing light.
Ah, happy memories pre-electricity.
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