Memories from P.T., 67
My
father worked at the power house as an engine driver. His
work clothes were always really dirty and smelled of tar and
oil and mum used to complain about having to scrub them by
hand in the concrete tubs down in the laundry. She always
boiled them in the copper longer than any other.
We
lived near the power house and sometimes the wind would blow
soot from there onto mum's clean sheets on the clothesline.
Also, mum played tennis and she always came home with sooty
marks on her white skirt, which made her cross. The town tennis
courts were right behind the power house and everything there
used to be covered in black dust.
I sometimes
used to take dad's meal to him at work. Mum would put the
meal on a tin plate and wrap it in a tea towel with a little
bow at the top where I could hold it. Also, there was sometimes
a billy with either soup or custard in it. The power house
used to scare me a bit – the engines made a lot of noise and
it was always hot and smelly.
At
first our house only had electric lights in the kitchen, lounge
room and bathroom (which was down stairs with the laundry).
There was only one power point – in the kitchen for mum's
electric jug.
When
the town was changed over to AC power about 1956, we got lights
in every room and another power point in the lounge for dad's
radio. The kitchen point was made a double because mum insisted
on getting an electric refrigerator. She said that, with the
old kerosene one, she was always scared the house would catch
fire. Above the kitchen power point was a little red pilot
light that was on all the time to tell you that the power
was on. Later, when mum got her electric washing machine,
we had to have another point put in the laundry. I think mum
got her mix-master for Christmas in 1959. She really loved
that because it made cooking cakes so much easier.
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