esrosedotblog

HOT AND COLD

Watching all that coal in the Best Film ignited a memory of my early childhood.

We had a coal/wood furnace for heat and a coal/wood 'jack' stove for hot water.

My Uncle Arch was the coal man. He would deliver it to the driveway and we (often I) would throw it through the window to the coal bin.

No. That was the wood. He sent the coal down a chute to the bin in the basement.

The pieces were pretty big and some had to be hammered down to size.

The 'jack' stove needed 'pea' coal so we would either make it with the hammer or buy it in a bag.

Pounding was cheaper.

I remember that you had to be careful of fire and asphyxiation.

The fires got banked at night and re-upped in the morning.

There were registers in the living/dining room for the hot air to rise into the house. I think that there might have been small ones in the bedroom too.

We used wood during the war (What war? The only war. WWII!)

I think it burned too fast but I was not an expert.

In that same house, where I lived until I was ten, there was an ice box in the early days. No refrigerator.

Uncle Arch was the ice man too. No funny stories there.

Before the refrigerator came, ice cream was brought in and eaten fast or we had the hand crank machine that used chopped ice and salt.

No frozen food of course.

Hey, at least we had running water and toilets; no outdoor shithouse like some of our relatives.

Coal and ice.

It was a bundled business. Both things. I don't know why.

Those were the days!

Did I mention that our milk was delivered too? Dave the milkman. Bottles. Cream on the top.

I walked to school.

Well, it was only a few hundred yards away.

I will quit now.