Yes, I was too good for the local male population...not that they knew or cared for that matter.
It was in the early sixties that I would go to stay with my maternal grandmother in Sheffield.
Grandma Blenkiron lived in Watery Street, quite close to the Royal Infirmary.
She lived in a very small house.....one up and one down....with a tiny cupboard sized scullery kitchen......and a coal cellar.
The living room was dominated by a huge cream enamel range...with an oven, a plate warmer and a water boiler....which had to be filled from the top with a laden can.
Most of the cooking was done on this coal fired range...although in summer when the range was not lit a single gas ring in the scullery was used to boil water....fry bacon and the like...though it was useless if you wanted a roast dinner.
In the summer if we wanted a roast dinner we would go out for one. there was a cafe locally that did splendid cooked lunches for two shillings and threepence.....a three course meal....soup, meat and two veg and then a pudding all for two and three....children half price!
Grandma Blenks was quite a character......she was thin and wiry......she wore thick stockings held up with elastic garters.
She drank beer......and bet on the horses....and I loved her to bits.
When we went to the fair she would go on all the rides with me....nothing fazed her.
She worked hard...she must have had about six cleaning jobs.....so she went out very early in the morning to clean the offices of Bassetts...the makers of jelly babies and liquorice allsorts......then she would get back home at just after 9am....she would then go across the road to the Dennison Arms and do a couple of hours cleaning there....then in the afternoon she would head out to Dore.......she cleaned the houses of two posh ladies twice a week....and came home loaded with home made cakes and home grown vegetables from their gardens...so she got paid in money and in goods as well.
Then she would go to the Ship Inn on Penistone Road and collect glasses a couple of evenings a week...this was for free beer, and company rather than money.
To be continued......
It was in the early sixties that I would go to stay with my maternal grandmother in Sheffield.
Grandma Blenkiron lived in Watery Street, quite close to the Royal Infirmary.
She lived in a very small house.....one up and one down....with a tiny cupboard sized scullery kitchen......and a coal cellar.
The living room was dominated by a huge cream enamel range...with an oven, a plate warmer and a water boiler....which had to be filled from the top with a laden can.
Most of the cooking was done on this coal fired range...although in summer when the range was not lit a single gas ring in the scullery was used to boil water....fry bacon and the like...though it was useless if you wanted a roast dinner.
In the summer if we wanted a roast dinner we would go out for one. there was a cafe locally that did splendid cooked lunches for two shillings and threepence.....a three course meal....soup, meat and two veg and then a pudding all for two and three....children half price!
Grandma Blenks was quite a character......she was thin and wiry......she wore thick stockings held up with elastic garters.
She drank beer......and bet on the horses....and I loved her to bits.
When we went to the fair she would go on all the rides with me....nothing fazed her.
She worked hard...she must have had about six cleaning jobs.....so she went out very early in the morning to clean the offices of Bassetts...the makers of jelly babies and liquorice allsorts......then she would get back home at just after 9am....she would then go across the road to the Dennison Arms and do a couple of hours cleaning there....then in the afternoon she would head out to Dore.......she cleaned the houses of two posh ladies twice a week....and came home loaded with home made cakes and home grown vegetables from their gardens...so she got paid in money and in goods as well.
Then she would go to the Ship Inn on Penistone Road and collect glasses a couple of evenings a week...this was for free beer, and company rather than money.
To be continued......