memories triggered by a photograph of my grandfather solomon and uncle sam....

 grandfather solomon and uncle sam........

 i found this little sepia photograph of my grandfather solomon and my uncle sam…….grandad worked as a bleacher in the mills in rochdale and uncle sam was a cabinet maker….i have some of his tools…….they both lived a few doors from each other in arthur street in spotland …,rochdale…….little terraces two up two down… with the wc in the yard…….i distinctly remember a huge iron fireplace in the parlour that had a fire going in summer and winter….due to their ill health the bed was in this room as well….along with a sofa….a grand sideboard……a square table in front of the fire and in the corner a small table with a radio standing on it……a valve radio….you turned it on and then waited for it to warm up….we had sunday tea…… almost every week…….salad….a tin of salmon…..with breadd and butter and a pot of tea………sometimes we had strawberries….my dad used to put sugar on his tomatoes……the skullary was a simple affair….a gas cooker one or two cupboards….and a large shallow sink made of sandstone….with one big brass tap…..cold…….there was a door which led to a small cellar….and the coal hole……..coal was delivered by way of a grate outside the front door…..every week grandma would donkey stone her front door step just like every other hoiusewife….they were proud of their little humble houses…..my grandma was also the “local layer outerer”….whenever anyone died she would go off and wash them…..shave them and generally make them look respectable….outside the front door was a gaslamp….in fact i remember gas lights inside the house when i was very young……when they had a bath the big zinc tub came out and was filled with hot water from the range….there was always a kettle bubbling away for a cuppa…..it always seemed eerie going upstairs…..almost bare rooms….with the odd possession….i played up there quite often……grandad was a quiet man….gentle and softspoken…….he always had his waistcoat on with his watch and chain………uncle sam was married to dinah….they has a son stanley……he worked at a mens outfitters in rochdale at the top of blackwater street……long gone….the  milkman delivered milk in arthur street  on his horse and cart…….you left a jug with a saucer on top " to stop the birds" on the doorstep for your milk…..whenever there was some horsemuck someone would rush out to get it for there tiny garden…….