Before I forget

I have just had e-mail for my American friend. I love getting mail from him as it is always interesting and if I ask any question it is fully answered .
It was something that he wrote telling me that he was bought up in a time of poverty and his parents went to buy clothes at thrift shops. I think over here we now have similar shops and they are called Charity shops.
Well almost all of the younger generation will have no idea but sugar was delivered to the shops in I think 1cwt, sack. 112lbs for those who are not familiar with the old weights in other words approx. 50kilos.
Well my Mother used to get a sack once it was emptied, boiled it up and then got transfer prints and print these patterns on the cloth and embroider the cloth. It was then used as a table cloth. Yes almost everybody used tablecloths in those days. More about tables soon.
My Mother also embroidered in the same way runners on the occasional table and also anti mocassas. Those things that used to cover the head of a covered chair or arms , they saved in general three piece suites from getting dirty as the covers could be easily washed.
Like my American friend, my Mother was great at knitting, in general she used to knit either jumpers or pullovers. Incidentally, I still have 2 jumpers that are in good condition.
Like most tables, they were scrubbed tables made I think of pine. They used to come up so nice when they were scrubbed, at least once a week. As I say, most had this sort of table.
Well my Cousin who lived on the same estate about 7 doors away so I used to go to see him very often. I am going back not to I guess 1045 when the war was more or less over. I would go and see if he could come out and play. We loved cricket. So much so that he made a bat out of a piece of willow tree and I used to go down to the fair and try to pick up any balls that were around. Not ordinary balls but the wooden balls that you were given when trying to win a coconut. Either at the shy a coconut booth or more than likely, get a ball in the bucket to win a coconut. They were ideal size for us as kids to play cricket. I made a pair of pads out of old rush matting so that if the wooden ball hit you, it didn't hurt.
I digress so back to the table. My Aunty had a table just like ours but to me it had patterns round the edges. Well one day I asked my Mother why couldn't we have a table that is patterned like hers. I was told and this is the honest truth. The patterns were caused by them smoking and leaving their cigarettes on the table and this was because they had forgotten them. I still find it hard to understand even to this day. It was true because on close inspection, I noticed that the burn marks were not even. Mind you every inch of space on the table had been used.
Finally, my friend called today, fixed the gates so that they fit better but most of all bought me some black Hammerite paint so it looks like painting tomorrow. More soon.