40 replies to this topic

[JFM]

Now that the cold weather is back distant memories of our outside loo come flooding back
(Oops that was usually about Springtime when that happened)

• Are there any house in St Helens that still have only an outside loo?
  
• What are your memories?
  
• When was the last muck wagon collection?

My aunty lived in Ashton and was still getting a muck wagon collection well into the 1960s

[tessmop]

I remember the outside loo at my Grandparents house in Hardy St,my Grand-dad kept chickens in the backyard,he had this cockrel that would sit on the toilet and depending who you were wouldn't budge one inch of it,it had a dislike for one of my aunties and gave her hell until my Grand-dad came to the rescue.Mishkas rabbit might not have been that bad after all

[JFM]

We had chickens in our back yard to,
I used to crack open the back door and peep out to see if the "cock was looking" then run like hell for the loo slaming the door shut stright away.
Ditto for the return trip.
Then one day I cracked the door and there was the cock with its legs tied either side of the washing line and being made ready for the pot.
Well Done Grandma
PARADISE,
I strutted manfully to the lavi (probably all 2ft of me) looking it in the eye
(enjoyed my dinner to)

[Olliebeak]

These stories have made me realise that I wasn't the only child bullied by a cockerel. Ours was called 'Georgie' and he used to 'leg me' the length of the back yard. I had to stand and yell for my Nan to come and rescue me.

He was a coward when she appeared - all she had to do was flap her pinny at him, and he jumped up onto the roof of the Henhouse!

[tessmop]

There like guard dogs only obey their master or mistress.

[Thumpa lumpa]

We had an outside Loo and my sister and a cousin brought two lads home one day, and they locked me in the Loo, when they let me out I told my sister I was going to tell my Dad what they had done, they clubbed together and gave me 2/6d to keep quiet, GREAT, spent the money then dobbed them in.

Edited by Thumpa lumpa, 13 December 2011 - 02:15 PM.

[vinty]

I lived in a terrace house with outside Loo until 1951
Every Winter we kept an Oil Lamp lit in the Loo to stop the pipes freezing.
The Tales about Cockerels attacking brought back memories of one such bird in our Backyard that hated my elder brother and would fly at him everytime he ventured near it, until one day my mother heard him screamking for help She rushed out grabbed the clothes Prop and set about the Cockerel breaking the Prop in the process needless to say we had Chicken for dinner that week.
I think it was in the breeding strain of the Cockerels originating from Fighting Cocks.

[Olliebeak]

I suppose it was just 'one of those things' that cockerels (being the males of the species) were only being protective and thought they were defending 'their girls'. In their eyes, anybody who ventured into 'their territory' posed a threat - apart from the person who was mostly responsible for feeding them, very often the older female in the house.



Our outside loo also had the ubiquitous paraffin oil lamp hanging from the pipes in the winter months, in an attempt to stop the pipes from freezing up. In most winters, they still managed to freeze solid for a couple of days. They were also a haven for all manner of creepy-crawlies - spiders, woodlice etc - enough to make you want to get out of there asap!

I well remember taking a torch out with me in the winter - plus a towel over my head whenever it was raining. Usually the 'roller towel' from the back of the back door. One torch that I remember had blue, red and green filters that could be rotated over the bulb to give off different coloured beams.

We mostly had squares of newspaper cut up on a piece of string - but when we had visitors there was always a roll of Izal hanging on the string instead.

One of my jobs on a saturday morning - after cleaning the steps - was to finish by cleaning out the toilet. Brushing down the walls (to get rid of the cobwebs/spiders) and brushing the floor to discourage the insects and remove any twigs/leaves that had blown inside. Final task was to mop it out with a bit of disinfectant - brave effort to make it smell a bit sweeter. Nan cleaned the toilet bowl every day and always left a drop of Sally-White down there every evening before locking up for the night.

[tessmop]

my Grand-dad had the job of cutting up the newspaper into squares.I remember those torches Ollie.When did the toilet roll that we use now come into the shops?

[Olliebeak]

I'm sure I remember the soft stuff coming in around 1960 - think we got some for the '2 american aunties' visit in 1962. Nan was so embarassed that we still had the outside loo - she even made grandad give it a fresh coat of distemper the day before they arrived. Bet she even put a toilet seat cover in there .

[tessmop]

I know it's the wrong thread,distemper you don't hear about that anymore.

[SWIMMER]

Hi all tessmop my grandad used to do that also. Must have been the grandads job. lol

I remember the lamps as well hanging in the toilets, and the red green and white torches, loved those, that is until my elder brother jumped out at me on the way to the loo shining the green light on his face. I made it there and back in record time lol
Do you also remember the red cardinal polish that they used on the loo floor. which of course in keeping with the rest of the house had to be spotless.

Distemper, was that the whitewash that they used on the toilets on a regular basis, they weren't allowed to look dirty.
Tell you what though glad we did not have chickens, sounds like they added and extra sense of urgency to going to the loo lol

What about the middle of winter, which when we were little was winter. The snowdrifts at either side of the path to the loo, and thick peasoup fog, so you could not see a hand in front. The only way to get there and back was to hang on to the washing line. In the middle of winter very precarious because the line and the path was always icy

[the olden days]

We had an outside loo in Park Road in the 1950's/60's and as I had four children I had to let them use chamberpots or buckets all evening in the Winter and dispose of it myself into the toilet next morning.

As others mentioned it was almost impossible to keep it from freezing up each winter and I had a regular visit from the plumber once the weather improved.

Aren't we lucky with our bathrooms and central heating etc., and toilet paper instead of the daily paper cut into squares and hung up on a nail.

Still say they were 'happy days' though for children especially as they could play out in safety.l

[Alan]

My gran used to recycle that soft tissue that Christmas tangerines were wrapped in at that time. She kept a little stock of it under her chair cushion for her own use. Grandad's arse and mine were deemed too coarse for such genteel treatment

I think in my Gran's mind, it'd have been the lavatorial equivalent of casting pearls before swine

........or feeding donkeys with strawberries

[Olliebeak]

Alan, on 14 December 2011 - 01:49 PM, said:

My gran used to recycle that soft tissue that Christmas tangerines were wrapped in at that time. She kept a little stock of it under her chair cushion for her own use. Grandad's arse and mine were deemed too coarse for such genteel treatment

I think in my Gran's mind, it'd have been the lavatorial equivalent of casting pearls before swine

........or feeding donkeys with strawberries

Now she sounds like one very clever and resourceful lady to me, Alan - well done her !