Mention of blogs made me realise it is a little while since I put my two-bob’s worth in but I couldn’t think of what to write about. However, reading about the lovely fresh fruit that Taddy grows has given me the inspiration to write about the fruit from my childhood that had magic powers. I am not talking of the mushroom type of magic (and yes, I do know that’s not a fruit) – come off it, that sort of stuff was never for me.. Though I did once see a chef I worked with prepare and eat some and it took HIM two days to come off it….while the waitress who had also tried it couldn’t stop laughing all the time she was serving customers in the restaurant. Imagine asking a waitress what dish she recommends and all she can do is laugh….
Back to my story and yes, it is another little trip down memory lane so please bear with me, it might even stir up a few memories. I was a child in the era when every child was SUPPOSED to get measles and chickenpox – and if you didn’t then there must be something wrong with you. My mother said that it was just the eyes you had to be careful of when you had measles so best stay in a dark room for a few days. As for the itching, well lots of calamine lotion might ease the itch, but don’t scratch the sores or you will be marked for life.
For some reason my mother thought that the number 3 played a part in some illnesses. For instance, it took three weeks from start to finish for the measles (one week to get it, one week to have it proper, and one week to recover from it) and do try to give it to the child next door (or be really good and give it to every child in the street) so that it will be over and done with for them. If you got a cold then you should think back 3 days and you would know where, or who, you got it from.
I used to be given so many things to ward off colds. In my liberty bodice (don’t ask) my mother would fix a medicated pad to keep my chest warm. Fairly sure they were called Thermogene squares or pads and I think they were pink, but I might be getting mixed up with the pink batts they use to insulate houses.
I would take Malt and Cod Liver Oil, camphor blocks were fixed somewhere on me, I drank Scott’s emulsion, a poultice of some warm stuff would be put round my neck if I had a sore throat, Fenning’s Fever Cure if a fever managed to get through, some powders which might have been Beecham’s – tasted okay, Beecham’s also had a pill but that was for something altogether different.
There were also William’s Pink Pills for Pale People (as the advert went) but they weren’t for coughs and colds – can’t remember what they were for, possibly rheumatics and such. Strawberry-flavoured medicine, and we mustn’t forget my mum’s homemade treacle toffee. Not sure if that helped the illness but it tasted good. Other such marvels which I can’t name right now, and there had to be warmth and bed rest – so I would be put in the one bedroom that had a fireplace and a roaring fire would be kept going. Thankfully my uncle drove a coal truck….
How my mother managed to buy all these medications for me I have no idea as money was very scarce, as was the case with so many people in those days Did all this medication stop me from getting sick – I have to tell you I got some rip-roaring colds in spite of, or maybe because of, all the care I got.
So where does the magic come into it that I mentioned at the beginning of this blog. Well, if I had been ill and although getting better but not feeling real super was still in bed, my mother would hail the fruit and vegetable man as he went along selling his wares. Remember, in those days of the war era fruit was not plentiful (except for the green sour crab-apples we used to pinch from the orchards and consequently gave us bellyache) and was expensive if you could get any – so definitely not in the daily food intake. .
My mum would buy a peach, wrapped in tissue paper to keep it from getting bruised, or a small bunch of grapes, or an orange, and she would tell me that this was magic fruit and it would make me better. Remember I was only very young and I still believed in magic. I would eat the fruit and she was right – it did have magical powers and it did make me better. Was I experiencing mind-over-matter, well whatever it was I didn’t mind and what did it matter. It always worked its magic.
Could definitely have done with a Taddy person in those days.
Back to my story and yes, it is another little trip down memory lane so please bear with me, it might even stir up a few memories. I was a child in the era when every child was SUPPOSED to get measles and chickenpox – and if you didn’t then there must be something wrong with you. My mother said that it was just the eyes you had to be careful of when you had measles so best stay in a dark room for a few days. As for the itching, well lots of calamine lotion might ease the itch, but don’t scratch the sores or you will be marked for life.
For some reason my mother thought that the number 3 played a part in some illnesses. For instance, it took three weeks from start to finish for the measles (one week to get it, one week to have it proper, and one week to recover from it) and do try to give it to the child next door (or be really good and give it to every child in the street) so that it will be over and done with for them. If you got a cold then you should think back 3 days and you would know where, or who, you got it from.
I used to be given so many things to ward off colds. In my liberty bodice (don’t ask) my mother would fix a medicated pad to keep my chest warm. Fairly sure they were called Thermogene squares or pads and I think they were pink, but I might be getting mixed up with the pink batts they use to insulate houses.
I would take Malt and Cod Liver Oil, camphor blocks were fixed somewhere on me, I drank Scott’s emulsion, a poultice of some warm stuff would be put round my neck if I had a sore throat, Fenning’s Fever Cure if a fever managed to get through, some powders which might have been Beecham’s – tasted okay, Beecham’s also had a pill but that was for something altogether different.
There were also William’s Pink Pills for Pale People (as the advert went) but they weren’t for coughs and colds – can’t remember what they were for, possibly rheumatics and such. Strawberry-flavoured medicine, and we mustn’t forget my mum’s homemade treacle toffee. Not sure if that helped the illness but it tasted good. Other such marvels which I can’t name right now, and there had to be warmth and bed rest – so I would be put in the one bedroom that had a fireplace and a roaring fire would be kept going. Thankfully my uncle drove a coal truck….
How my mother managed to buy all these medications for me I have no idea as money was very scarce, as was the case with so many people in those days Did all this medication stop me from getting sick – I have to tell you I got some rip-roaring colds in spite of, or maybe because of, all the care I got.
So where does the magic come into it that I mentioned at the beginning of this blog. Well, if I had been ill and although getting better but not feeling real super was still in bed, my mother would hail the fruit and vegetable man as he went along selling his wares. Remember, in those days of the war era fruit was not plentiful (except for the green sour crab-apples we used to pinch from the orchards and consequently gave us bellyache) and was expensive if you could get any – so definitely not in the daily food intake. .
My mum would buy a peach, wrapped in tissue paper to keep it from getting bruised, or a small bunch of grapes, or an orange, and she would tell me that this was magic fruit and it would make me better. Remember I was only very young and I still believed in magic. I would eat the fruit and she was right – it did have magical powers and it did make me better. Was I experiencing mind-over-matter, well whatever it was I didn’t mind and what did it matter. It always worked its magic.
Could definitely have done with a Taddy person in those days.