Health of the City

Hi Helen, oh my goodness, those "houses" sound awful (they'd probably turn them into student accommodation these days ); I thought the munitions cottages sounded bad. Thanks That makes sense, I just assumed it was a road widening thing. Wow shocking conditions.

"Hi Helen, oh my goodness, those "houses" sound awful (they'd probably turn them into student accommodation these days Big grin); I thought the munitions cottages sounded bad. Thanks That makes sense, I just assumed it was a road widening thing. Wow shocking conditions." In response to Garlands Joke Shop reply above {for some reason I don't seem to be able to quote }, because so much time has passed by and so much progress and change in tis many forms has followed on, it becomes so easy to forget how life really was back then. Probably a good reminder how things were would be one of the many films by Ken Loach, starting with "Cathy Come Home". Another TV series that chronicles how harsh times were post war, is "Call The Midwife", based on midwife Jennifer Worth's memories of her work as a nurse and midwife in 1950's london's East End.

In reply to the last to posts (Mike59 and Garland's Joke Shop), Couldn't agree more. Definitions of 'poverty' have certainly changed since I grew up (1950s/1960s). Back-to-back houses were still very common with outside lavatories, no hot running water etc certainly no central heating (do you remember frost on the inside of windows in winter?). Conditions that sound almost primitive by today's standards. Cathy Come Home was a real eye-opener back in the 1960s.

I remember a flat we rented in Croxley Green in Hertfordshire in the late '60's where we had ice on the inside of the windows. We used the electric oven as a heater when we had the shillings. Also a bread box to prop up the bed where the leg was missing.

Hello, Thank you for sharing that. A family that lived nearby were almost a copy of Cathy come home. They were a hard working couple with a couple of children. They weren't spendthrift in nature. They had bought (via mortgage) a house. A few years on, they decided to extend their home. Giving a bit more room for the children. Poor advice led them to over stretch their spending with an increased mortgage, almost making them prisoners in their own home. Then the manufacturing recession cost one of them a good wage. Such a sad day was when they were forced to sell up. The sale price didn't cover their mortgage. Their loyalty as a family hasn't ever broken, unlike the Cathy come home story of 1966, which is one huge consolation. They were the victims of bad advice, plus exploitation in the era of commission agents & quick fix builders. The Cathy come home story is so real, in real life.

Very true, the past is another world. "Cathy come Home"- I hope it's an uplifting, inspirational, feel- good film Mike hahaha Are you trying to make me cry? hahaa I was bad enough with "I, Daniel Blake", Loach knows how to really get you in the feels. Yes, although before my time, I've heard people talk of ice on the inside of the window, must have been horrid. A combination of no central heating, single pane glass and colder winters (thank you climate change... I guess). A bread box? Guess getting bread out of it was a nightmare if someone was in bed Jokes aside, as I said before, different world to the one I'm very lucky to have known thus far. Just shows how on the money Ken Loach's work was (and still is).

I think that the older you are, the worse conditions you remember. For me the worst was the 80s at university, when even the water in the cup by my bed froze. We have no idea though - in John Whittingham's diary there are records of unbelievably bad weather eg frost 11th July 1765.

I do recall ice on the inside of the bedroom window, and the fun of blowing on the ice to try and melt it. Also trying to draw patterns in the ice.... In the to up/two down mid terrace home, we had a coal fire in the living/dinning room, outside toilet and bathtime was one of those proper old bathtubs by the coal fire on a winters evening. I even recall the periodical testing of the air raid siren. I never did find out where it was located.

We did have a harsh winter during the early eighties, I think 1981. I recall the M6 between J4-J3 at a standstill as vehicles were stranded in the snow. Many diesel vehicles had problems with the so-called diesel freezing scenraio, which was actualy the diesel in the fuel tank and fuel system becoming thicker, waxing was the term.

I was still at home with central heating at that point but yes, there was a very cold, snowy, winter and white Christmas at the start of the 80s. Below 11th February 1985.

I can recall the thick snow in the winter of 1981. I was working late and had to make my way home on the M6 from Junction 4 to Junction 3 at about 3am in the morning. There was absolutely no other traffic about and when I hit the M6 it was just three lanes of virgin snow which was getting thicker every minute. My main concern was getting up Packington Bank so I gunned my old Austin 1300 to 50 MPH and headed directly up the middle of the carriageway. Fortunately for me I made it OK because there is no way anyone could have rescued me if I had become stuck. I think that the snow had come down thicker than anticipated, I remember looking out of the window and hoping that I could finish work before 2am when in the end it was nearer to 3am when I finished.

If we take our memories of harsh years and then look at the CET (Central England Temperature) which is an average of three rural stations chosen to try to exclude the urban heat island effect. You can see how much worse it was going back in time to the 'Little Ice Age'. To put that into perspective it was the coldest part of the last 10,000 years and you have to go back to the ice age to get worse. We have a concept of famine from African droughts but famine was caused in our country as much by cold and wet. A sharp frost at the wrong point could decimate fruit. Wind and wet could ruin arable crops. The LIA was the most recent downward dip in a series that started after the peak of the current interglacial - the Holocene Optimum. Every time the world warmed humanity flourished and when it got colder it struggled. Although invention often evolved in the colder periods because we had to adapt to the harder living conditions.