I have been enjoying Sheila’s postings, especially when she writes about the ‘olden days’, that is the days of her childhood – and mine. How cold it was before central heating, how inconvenient before there was hot water on tap and how smelly it was with coal fires, paraffin heaters and clothing that was washed less frequently than needed (the hot water problem). And then there was the permanent fug of tobacco smoke (my apologies to any unredeemed smokers reading this).
One thing that Sheila hasn’t mentioned, or only obliquely, is the invention of “Gore-Tex” and similar waterproofing materials, especially when used in shoes. Oh, the joys of wet soggy feet when all we had to deal with snow and rain was a pair of black school shoes, usually of the lace up variety. No matter how well polished they were kept, they always let in. The alternative was wellington boots. Modern wellies are a lot better, helped no end by the fact that they are usually worn with trousers. In the ‘old days’ little girls wore skirts with woollen stockings reaching to below the knees, kept up with elastic garters. As soon as you took more than a couple of steps in wellies, the socks slipped down and down. Net result was an alternative winter, without soggy feet but instead painful red chapping all around the legs where the wellies rubbed. It is good to know that Sheila, Jae and Oscar will not have to bear such tribulations, as we all know that Sheila’s Kili drawer is well stocked. A hundred and one memories of these oh so different days are lurking in my mind and I constantly rejoice in how much the world has changed, in every aspect of life it sometimes feels. And then something pulls me up in my tracks. Recently hubby Jim and I were raking around in ancient ruins in Greece. That happens to be one of our ‘things’ although we have had our moments at high altitude. (And that has given me an idea for another guest post.) But to return to things ancient. We have been to many countries with long, long histories of civilisation stretching back thousands of years. One of the oldest settlements we have visited was in central Turkey at Catalhoyuk, at its peak about 9,000 years ago although it survived for 2,000 years. Some of the artefacts, like tools and rugs, were so like their counterparts of today; and in South America we saw similar. Right across the settled world and the aeons, mankind seems to come up with similar solutions to the problems of everyday life, even the problems of waterproof clothing. In rural China they make waterproof capes and hats from reeds.
Admittedly we are of the first generations to have telecommunications – and that has really changed the world. Returning to Greece, we were on the island of Delos, a now uninhabited archaeological site with a history of civilisation reaching back more than three thousand years. It was an important place of pilgrimage honouring Apollo before becoming a thriving trading centre with money to spend on embellishment of the environment. By great good fortune the major excavations took place long after the days of the international plunderers aka 19th century archaeologists, so a lot of what was found has remained on the island, housed in a beautiful light and airy museum.
And at last I am getting to the Kili point of this. Sheila and Jae have agonised over dealing with their hair on Kilimanjaro where all water has to be carried by porter from the bottom. The ancient Delia ladies must have had a similar issue because right before my eyes, in the museum I saw a beautifully carved marble head of a lady with ‘corn-rows’, one of the solutions Jae has been pondering. So is there really anything new in this world?
PS I must concede that attitudes have changed. Can you imagine Sheila’s Grandma of the bosoms taking off to climb Kilimanjaro with son Robert (Sheila and Leslie’s dad) and one or more of the grandchildren? I think not, although she did go on some cashmere buying trips with her husband to northern India.