Friday again… where do the weeks go?  It is time once more for another gentle trickle of thoughts and words from the active members of the LBC.  The topic to have us chewing on our pencils this week is down to little old me. My choice is:

Memory Lane

When I was young and life was busy, mammy often sent us… one at a time… up the winding stairs to the bathroom with the instructions issued in a firm tone [The tone Elly is using at the moment with the newest addition to her family 😉 more anon! ] to wash up as far as possible, down as far as possible and not to forget possible!

There were other times when we were called in from the field, you remember the field at the end of the garden, it was our playground. We all played safely there well away from traffic and the hazards that children of today seem to face.  If the call was not for food, then it usually meant we were going out with mammy on some errand or other and this began with us being sent to the bathroom by turn to have a wash.  This time the chant began with ‘Wash your hands, face and knees!’ and had the added litany of ‘Don’t forget your ears and the backs of your knees’!  It was the era of short trousers.  My brothers, until their teens wore tailored suits with short trousers. Below the trousers were ankle length socks in summer and the colder winter days saw them sport knee length grey socks with a turn down top.

In the evenings when all the chores were finished the bath was run and often two bunnykins were placed in there at the one time. They sat at opposite ends facing each other and as they played and splashed about the distraction allowed hair to be washed and the dirt melt away transforming my younger brothers into two sweet angels for at least five minutes. Since mammy had a heart attack when I was nine years old the bath time ritual fell to my hands.  I bathed first taking my little sister in with me. The tricky part began as I stepped out and donned a bathrobe.  She never wanted the playtime to end so splashed about for a couple of minutes more before I lifted her slippery eel like body onto a bath towel.

Next were my two younger brothers, so as they undressed I readied the bath once more.  My sister was allowed to watch for a few minutes as I carefully dried and put on her nightgown.  Then she was settled for sleep and I returned to play and scrub the boys.  Sometimes this was a noisy but fun-filled task, so long as the soap was well away from eyes.

Why did I choose this line of thought?  I was thinking of Blog Action Day 2010 and the topic is WATER we were doing our bit to conserve water by doubling up at bath time long before either global warming or Blog Action Day were ever thought about.