Sunday 17 May 2009

Sunday's Child....

When I was a child there was reliable rhythm to my life...
Weekdays were school days.. Startrite shoes put out the night before for my father to polish, breakfast around the red Formica table with Noddy smiling at me from the Sugar Ricicles packet and my darling mother dipping her toast in to her coffee and being admonished by my father for her continental habits that didn't die when she moved to old Blighty..
Saturdays were days when my father went to work at the bank until lunchtime when he would come home with a bag of sweets to share between my brother and I..
It would be Milky Ways one week, the next, Mars Bars.. or Maltesters..
Saturday evenings were predictably.. a tea of egg and soldiers, or cardboard sandwiches ( my mother insisted on buying hard as nails brown Hovis from the local baker who delivered to our door with a large basket of bread and biscuits each day) Fondant Fancies and Swiss roll... the entertainment would be Dixon of Dock Green or if we were lucky.. Doctor Who..and always a visit from my grandmother who looked just like Mrs Pepperpot and always smelt of Devon Violets and would give me a shiny sixpence from her little brown purse and a Callard & Bowser butterscotch lozenge..
Sundays were my favourite... The smells of a roast dinner wafting through the house, Gardener's Question Time on the radio and a dive for the sofa after lunch to snooze along to a black and white film.. preferably a weepy!
These days.. my Sundays don't have quite the same gentle rhythm..It is a day of catching up all I didn't achieve during the week.. tidying up loose ends, ironing a small mountain of shirts for my boys to put on their best for the week ahead, a lie-in if it is raining and there is no hope of a local car boot sale , Sunday lunch once in a while with my in-laws.. and the certainty that the whole pattern of life will resume the following morning... not with Noddy or Formica.... more of a grabbed piece of burnt toast.. forgotten under the Aga lid, accompanied by cup of cold tea discovered next to the bed.. served at 5.30 a.m..and drunk at 8 a.m..
Sundays are still my favourite day .... which is yours?

37 comments:

April said...

I love Sundays as it is the day I can catch my breath before the whols crazy cycle starts again

April xx

THISNTHAT said...

Lovely new pic. Just love the little girl. Oooh! Startright shoes! Yes, I remember them well. I also recall that my aunt worked in a shoe shop and that when my Mum went in to chat to her, I spent my time on the foot X-ray machine looking at the bones of my feet! Hours & hours ... bet my feet glow in the dark!
Lesley XX

Sarah said...

Hi Michele

Lovely post - it was a real blast from the past, it's funny how some many households had the same routine!
I do have to say that Saturday is my favourite. Sunday is definately my least favourite.....
x

Lilbitbrit said...

Your memories of Dr Who, Dixon of Dock Green, Startrite shoes, are my memories.

Nothing was open on Sunday's. Our big treat after a full roast dinner, was to walk down to the off license and buy a block of, yes if we were big spenders, neopolitan icecream, how continental that sounded. That's all we ever bought there.

Thanks for the memories.

Christy

Simone said...

I like the sound of continental habits! My favourite day of the week is Monday!!! A time for a fresh start and time to spend on my own. As a child I hated Sundays as it was school the next day and I couldn't stay up late!

Unknown said...

I like to try and keep Sundays as close to they were as a child, and Sunday evening with my boy is probably my most favorite time...especially if he's in his pyjamas and we watch the Antiques Roadshow for a treat!
In the week, however, Thursday has to be best.
Lovely post, thanks
x Philippa

Redwoodhouse said...

Well that took me right down memory lane..a very nice memory lane...I did so enjoy those black and white films on a Sunday afternoon. A day to stay at home or a little trip in the car with a picnic if the weather was nice. No shops open so no temptations just simple pleasures yes Sunday was and still is my favorite day of the week.
A lovely post Michelle...thank you..
Jan

Hen said...

I really enjoyed reading about your childhood week. I'm finding it hard to pick my favourite day. Sometimes it's a Saturday, especially if we're going to Bridport mooching. Sometimes it's Sunday, if it involves relaxing but more often than not, it involves lots of forgotten weeding! The again, much as I love my boys, I quite like breathing a sigh of relief when there's just me in the house again on Monday, peace and no one to stop me spending the whole day uninterrupted in my sewing room! Tuesday is my least favourite day as I am mainly out of the house, acting as a taxi driver for Beavers and goodness knows what else!
Hen x

marble rose said...

What an absolutely beautiful blog - what glorious memories you have, so enviable, you are very lucky. tell me more!

Fleur
x

Teena Vallerine said...

How is it that we are all so busy now? But maybe our mum's were rushed off their feet and we didn't notice so much! Lovely reminiscences. LOVE the pink and blue in the back of that frame. (But I'm with your dad about dunking toast!! Eugh! And I've just remembered I haven't polished the school shoes!) t.xx

hens teeth said...

Sundays are certainly not what they used to be.
Tinned peaches and pink blamanche for Tea with a slice of bread and butter!
Fav day of week now....I honestly can't think of one. Maybe today's society has made each day pretty much like the next???

Clare said...

What a lovely post to read on a wet windy weekend! Saturday nights were always my favourite as my nana would babysit for my sister and I. We'd use our plastic tea set but with real tea! It was all very exciting!

Dana and Daisy said...

My favorite has got to be Monday when everyone goes back to work and school and Daisy and I have our world unto ourselves again. I know... selfish.

Vintage to Victorian said...

Hi Michele

Sundays these days mean an extra hour in bed as I don't need to be at Dairy House until 11 o'clock instead of 10. However, Mondays are my favourite currently as the alarm is turned off. It's the day on which I always think I'll be able to achieve everything that needs to be done, but sadly that doesn't seem to happen! I usually also have Tuesday free, so I don't feel so bad!! I realise that I enjoy Mondays because it's the start of my 'alternative weekend' with 2 days off in a row.

Apologies for that very long-winded repetitive paragraph. You can tell I'm ready for Monday!!

Sue x

LiLi M. said...

Your art work is so sweet again. I am a Sunday's child, we use that term for a child born on a Sunday = a lucky child. My favorite is Friday evening. Having a great meal cooked by me (not very modest I know) and enjoying the fact that there is a whole weekend ahead of us. No one knows then that with a wink of the eye it is over again :-(, no on Fridays we have plenty of time.

Ragged Roses said...

Sunday afternoon was my sweetie time, the dog would sit on the window sill waiting for my father to come back from the shop with our sweets, sherbet pips, bonbons and blackjacks.
Now my favourite time is Friday evening, with the promise of the weekend ahead. Alas it's Monday morning and I have some shoes that need polishing, bye bye till later...
thanks for a lovely post
Mx

Ragged Roses said...

Sunday afternoon was my sweetie time, the dog would sit on the window sill waiting for my father to come back from the shop with our sweets, sherbet pips, bonbons and blackjacks.
Now my favourite time is Friday evening, with the promise of the weekend ahead. Alas it's Monday morning and I have some shoes that need polishing, bye bye till later...
thanks for a lovely post
Mx

Country Cottage Chic said...

As I grew up in South Africa there was no television until I was 16 - can you imagine? So our entertainment was the radio. I remember the special programmes that we used to be allowed to listen to on a Friday night as there was no school the next day. Otherwise I bet our days were very similar to yours except our table was yellow!

These days I enjoy Saturdays as this is the day Mr C can relax & we mostly go out for breakfast & a little light shopping. Of course Sundays are good too as it's car boot day in the summer but there always seem to be be things to do on a Sunday before the start of the new week.

Jayne

Tracy Lorna Nors said...

Lovely to read, thank you :)
Brought back all sorts of memories of growing up.
Friday night has to be the best, no getting up early next day and all evening to plan the weekend or think about relaxing, plus having time together as a family.
Love the illustration with the snakes and ladders, it made my heart sing!

Anonymous said...

I love Saturdays, that is the day John and I have set aside to be completely alone. No one visits us on a Saturday, and we usually just stay home together, doing the garden, pottering around and relaxing, I love Saturdays. xxx

Sal said...

Nowadays, I would say that Saturdays and Sundays are in joint top place for me.Saturdays are generally a 'going out and about day' whereas Sundays are a stay at home day. And both, I love.
My childhood Sundays were very simple affairs. Mum did the roast,dad did the gardening and the radio played a huge part in entertaining us as there was little daytime tv and no shops were open, to lure us away from the tranquility of home...and of course car boot sales were unheard of!
I've always loved the weekends,which, for me start on Friday evenings.. as I like to drag things out! So Friday would be my next fave day of the week,it being the gateway to my weekend!
;-)

Cape Cod Rambling Rose said...

Sunday afternoons were always one of my favorite times of the week. =)

I just noticed on etsy that you and I are two slots away from each other in the etsy "papergoods" showcase today! =)))))

A Thrifty Mrs said...

I hated Sundays as a child and I'm not really sure why.
Fridays are and I think always were my fave days. The potential of the weekend stretching ahead and fish for supper!

Patchwork Harmony said...

the best feeling is waking up on a Saturday and realising I don't have to go to work!
love the story of your childhood routine! x

Carol said...

I love Sundays, sometimes...but never Sunday evenings, is that I still get that, back to school or work on monday feeling? well I should have gotten over that by now!
I love all the little routines we all had as children.
Cx

Rosie said...

I love Friday evenings and Saturdays. When I was growing up Friday night was fish and chips from the shop as a treat. A cupboard full of food and goodies. Being able to stay up latewatch tv and the promise of two days off school. Now I'm grown up, things are pretty much the same except now I might have a glass of wine whilst watching the tv.

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A time to dance said...

I love the first morning of the school holidays which is usually a weekday...I wake up at 5.45 am as usual and realise I have 6 wonderful weeks ahead of me..I either go back to snooze or make lists of all the things I will do during those weeks spread out before me.....not long to go till that wonderful day............

Josie-Mary said...

I loved reading about your childhood, it's sounds abit like mine..... hair washed on a sunday etc. Now I don't really have a fav day, working in retail I never have the same days off, so I can have a sunday any day of the week. I like days when the jobs have all been done & I can sit & relax or have an afternoon nap!!! :)

Anonymous said...

aaah, startrite shoes and Dixon of Dock Green, he puts The Bill to shame.
Karon x

menopausalmusing said...

Sundays meant one of us being sent to buy an ice cream "brick" from the icecream van, bringing it home, mum wrapping it in newspaper and putting it by the drafty front door to keep it cold to follow Sunday roast. Don't know how she did it, but it always was just the right consistency and served with tinned pineapple chunks. That was a lovely post. x

Funkymonkey said...

My favourite day has to be Saturday.I always associate it with going out and when I was younger, going to Villa Park for the footy. Thanks for the ideas of places to visit next week. I had thought about Kirby Lonsdale. I think I've seen it blogged. If I go, I'll be sure to take plenty of pics.

Tracey

Niki Fretwell said...

Such a lovely post Michele! You can't beat a bit of nostalgia, can you?!
I'm guessing that our mothers were working hard in the background and possibly didn't see Sundays as being particularly restful...we always seemed to have one set of grandparents or the other coming for sunday lunch, which was lovely for my brother and I, but a lot of work for Mum to put together a feast!

Just think, two more Sundays and a much talked about event will be all over! ;-))

Oh, Saturdays do it for me...but most days are good!
Niki x

Sam said...

I have memories like that

Roller skating, hair wash, bullseye, heart to heart, taping the top 40, on a Sunday night!

Sam xx;0)

Suzy's Vintage Attic said...

Hello Michele
Thank you for your lovely comments.
I enjoyed reading about your childhood recollections. Especially about the Callard & Bowser butterscotch lozenges as I too loved those along with the nougats (my favourites) in the pale blue and white box. Sadly they have been discontinued...
As a child I enjoyed Saturdays the most as on a Sunday everything seemed so quiet and boring to me. Now I see Sundays differently, I cherish the quietness of it!
I look forward to seeing you next Saturday! Good luck with all your preparations etc..
Take care
Isabelel x

Ragged Roses said...

Hello again, just came back to see if there was a new post and found that you've lost all your dots before I even got a chance to say how much I liked them. Dots suit you, but you know that ...
Mx

Evsie said...

Saturdays for me as here in our shop we say no paperwork today & enjoy taking a step back to look at all our vintage wares move them around & restock as our customers know new bits will be in ready for the new week on Monday, plus there is the excitment of a day off the next day.