Posted by Ed Kiser on June 16, 2014 at 08:39:11 user Kisered.
In Reply to: Re: Dogs Home Layout posted by Mike Dennis on June 16, 2014 at 00:04:38:
Searching among the "real" locations in the Lake District is understandable to be a desirable project, but perhaps "finding" can have its disappointments as well because of the mental images from reading the books are not quite what one actually sees, so there is a clash of concepts. At least the Broads locations are more closely truthful with the written descriptions.
However, I must admit that looking for the "real" locations is a delightful project that for me has never been undertaken because I am not there; I am in Kentucky, USA. But I do take delight in seeing the occasional photo of the various places in the Lakes as such photos help to flesh out my mental pictures obtained from the readings. So to those that have made such pictures available, I extend my heartfelt thanks.
As for the bathroom being a bit "posh" or even having a refrigerator, it was in the early 1950's (I was in high school) before we got our first refrigerator. Things like milk, cream, butter, cheese were kept in a special place out on the back porch. It looked like two doors opening to a closet, but when open, you see a crank, some ropes over a cylinder. By turning the crank, the ropes would pull up a sort of elevator, a shelf on which the food items were kept. It took a bit of cranking because the hole under all this was rather deep, but it was in that depth that the temperature was year round to be at an acceptable level suitable to preserve safely those items. When finished accessing the contents, the crank was reversed and the shelf lowered back down into the cooler depths. Not good for keeping any frozen items however.
As for ice, we went to a nearby building, very low to the ground, that was the "ice house". It was a hole dug into the ground, but with a low roof over it, in two layers, to allow ventilation between the two layers to avoid buildup of heat from the sun shining on the roof during the summer. In this hole was a lot of sawdust. Under the sawdust was a collection of large chunks of ice. During the Winter, the ice was cut from a nearby pond using a special kind of ice-saw, and carried by cart to the ice house, then covered in sawdust like a blanket to slow the thawing process. This ice was available all Summer. Mom made ice cream by putting the prepared cream in a container which was submerged in a larger bucket of cracked ice from the ice house. That ice was salted to lower its temperature and so freeze the ice cream. She kept turning the container to shake up the contents to hasten its freezing.
As to a bathroom being "posh" - did not have one until I got to college. But there was a path out behind the house to an outhouse that served that necessary purpose. A bit chilly out there in the winter, but then that just motivated one to tend to business without dawdling.
As for water, on the side of the house away from the cooler elevator hole, there was the traditional well. Again, a crank, a rope around a cylinder, with a bucket attached. This was much deeper than the cooler elevator hole. A tin dipper hung on a nail by the well. We all drank out of it, dipping water from a fresh bucket just lifted. I do not think it was ever washed but that did not seem to be a problem. Something about sipping water, COLD water from a deep well, in a TIN dipper gave a special satisfying taste. The bucket was normally standing on the shelf by the well, but after a while, it got warm, so frequently it was the procedure to dump that one out into the yard, lower the bucket into the depths, and crank up a fresh one of really COLD water. Somehow, today, drinking from the tap, or even expensive "bottled water" just does not give the satisfaction that well water gave us all.
As for the refrigerator we got when I was in high school - that is when the electric wires were finally run into our neighborhood. It meant the days of the kerosene lanterns were finally done. Now we could get a radio.
Those were the days...
Ed Kiser, Kentucky, USA [ kisered@aol.com ]