Back in my day, we didn't have electricity. It wasn't because there wasn't electricity or we were poor, we just lived in a very remote area. There were no gas generators than either but my mom had a gas powered ringer washer. We had a big tube battery powered radio that we only listened to for about an hour a day, to conserve the battery. We used kerosene lamps for evening lighting.
When I went to Vancouver, I used to be fascinated by the milk man who delivered milk by a horse drawn cart who would navigate the alleys, no crap. It wasn't like I would see horses going down the road but the junkman and the milk man would navigate the alleys.
The phone was on a party line with maybe 4 others sharing your line. Each home would have a distinctive ring, like two longs and a short. When you wanted to make a call, you lifted the receiver and turned a crank so the operator would answer and say, "number please". Often you'd lift the receiver and hear your neighbours talking, so you could listen in some but the click of the receiver could be heard by those talking.
TV came to Vancouver when I was 9 and there was one channel unless you had a big antennae so you'd get Seattle or Bellingham some of the time. Transistor radios were the big thing when I got to my teens. I could put my radio under my pillow and listen to rocknroll, baseball or hockey as I tried to sleep. I earned the radio and my three speed bike by delivering papers, kids did all the newspaper delivering than.
Other things I remember is having a blackout where all the lights were turned off in the city and the blinds drawn. This was a test during the cold war in case we were attacked.
Later I moved out to Port Coquitlam. There was no bus service so anywhere you wanted to go it was by bike, walking or hitchhiking. Bikes weren't cool and parents drove us nowhere so it was shanks pony and or hitchhiking.
My first car was a 53 Ford. Cars of that era only had 6 volt systems so the wipers were run by vacuum off the engine. What happened was if you were too hard on the gas the wipers would stop working so going up a hill you would have to ease off on the gas so you could get a sweep with the wipers.
|