'I hated Mondays because this was wash day. All the clothes were first heavily soaked, then rubbed by hand on the rubbing board. This was repeated in fresh water before they were laboriously loaded into the large, copper boiler.'
The clothes were rinsed twice in fresh water. White clothes and sheets were folded, 'blued' (to bring out the whiteness) and starched. 'They were mangled (squeezed through rollers) and when I was home this was my job. It was utterly exhausting work for a little girl, but it had to be done.'
If it was raining, everything was hung inside by a large fire. 'Then came another hated task: ironing. The proceedings on Mondays seemed to go on and on in a soap-suds nightmare which can never be forgotten!'
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