Growing up in London-Page 3 of proposed book.

Magic Lew...real blast from the past. Yes, we had a tin bath and an outside "tippler" toilet. No gentry in our street..(-: Keep em rolling....

Thanks Jim and Louise. Yes Louise, funny how memories and odd details come back. We didn't like that paper...I think it WAS called IZAL...we'd use anything but that. Mum used to save the paper that oranges were wrapped in...but oranges were seasonal back then, and you only got them around Christmas. There you are, you've provoked another odd memory. I agree, strange conversation on an art site.

Fabulous. A great story for your grandchildren (and I would have thought your local library and/or local history society - and possibly local schools could potentially be interested). Growing up in the sixties we had a sort of folding plastic and metal frame bath contraption, a bit like an upside down tent. Louise, unfortunately I remember Izal too! Look forward to seeing future pages, Lew. :)

Good one again, Lewis, loving this series, and all the comments!

Another memory that's hard to believe..Our family Doctor was often smoking when we went to see him and also had a glass of whisky on his desk!

My in-laws had an outside loo, one of a row of three down steps opposite the house, no lights if you had to go in the night you had to feel your way there and hope you were in the right one. How things have changed in 60 odd years, thank goodness! Yup- and Izal. What memories you’ve stirred up!

Love these, Lewis! Like Louise, it brings back lots of memories - I also remember the ghastly Izal toilet paper only too well! This book is going to be brilliant when it's finished, and a wonderful record to pass on to your grandchildren.

I can believe it, Louise. We've got a 1948 Family Encyclopedia, among other things, it covers health. It says 'smoking has no known adverse effects.' I can remember cigarettes being marketed as 'easing your cough' and being 'good for your throat'. Times change. (Got to admit, being no saint, I still like a ciggie in the shed...don't smoke anywhere else...but if we had a bicycle shed I'd have one behind there too.)

Fabulous Lewis. That's a posh house. I remember living in a 2 up 2 down. Going outside to the lav in the middle of winter was horrendous so the guzunder was often used instead. The tin bath was brought in from the yard once a week and we took turns in it (same water) in front of the coal fire. Rest of the week was a cat lick in the kitchen sink. What memories. Looking forward to the next installment.

It’s brilliant Lewis.

Thanks for all the wonderful feedback. Tessa, your brick outhouses sound very similar to ours...they must have been posh in their day. They froze in winter. It IS a posh house, Carolyn, these days it would sell for a million upwards. But it was pretty rundown when we three families moved in, badly in need of a LOT of TLC. If I thought that...a six-year old...it must have been tatty. A relative said he thought it had been empty for years before we moved in. The council requisitioned it.

Ah yes Lewis, the bike sheds..lol Re the Christmas oranges, I preferred the old days when fruit was seasonal. I just don't want to eat strawberries for example in winter. It feels wrong and I can only eat them in summer. Despite the Izal times, life was fun. On second thoughts, if we hadn't moved on. we wouldn't have painters online would we?..lol

Brilliant Lewis. Extremely entertaining.

I'm loving this Lewis! Even though I wasn't born until the early fifties we still had an outside loo but we did have a cast iron bath upstairs - how they got it up there I don't know. And yes I remember Izal paper too......memories.

Love it!

cutting paper squares was my wife's job as a young girl growing up in those years. For some joking reason we built up a stack of about 60 loo rolls as a memorial against those days - which continues even now.

LOL Lewis. The history of toilets! I wonder whether in 60 years the product will have changed and some will be saying 'remember when we had those quilted rolls'? As I said before, I can't believe I'm saying this here but the memories are flooding back and I'm thinking ridiculous thoughts of loo roll abstracts. I'm definitely loosing the plot and blame you for this..LOL

We also lived in a similar Georgian house in Blackfriars and we had verandas on our second floor. Gran and Grandad in the basement, we in the middle and aunt and uncle on the top. Bombed out by a doodlebug in 1944. Thanks for the memory Lewis.

That's interesting, Fred. I've always thought the local authorities were being considerate in putting three sisters and their families into one big house...it wasn't physically divided into flats, each family had a few rooms. Might have been awkward if they were all strangers. They did the same for your family, so maybe it was a policy. Whatever...although ours was very run -down when we moved in, I loved it there, and have very fond memories of it.

Love your work Luwis great stuff lol.

What memories of my own childhood this brings back. Love it.