Do you find yourself indulging in bouts of nostalgia now and again? I know I do.

But then what else can I expect when I spend so much time free-wheeling through the archives – as my old logo used to put it.

So what is it you remember? If you are like me, you probably recall some of those random
incidents which have been lurking somewhere in your subconscious.

These memories often seem to crop up for no logical reason.

I have read that some experts have claimed that it is the brain going through a data renewal process.

And they say the same about dreams! Who knows?

When it comes to psychological theories, you pays your money and you takes your choice! And we’ve plenty to choose from.

My latest bout of nostalgia hit me when I was browsing through some of my early notes on the local history of this area.

Not so much the major historical events of the past few years – but the often humdrum details of the lives of us ordinary people, many of which we have probably forgotten.

Can you remember the house you were brought up in? Have
you ever seriously tried to remember?

What did you first see when you went through your front door?

Where did you hang your coat and store your shoes?

How many pairs of shoes did you have?

What sort of shoes did the family have and how many?

Shoes have always been expensive, and I can well remember being told by one elderly lady how she had to go to school wearing shoes so old that the worn out soles had to be reinforced with strong cardboard.

I have also heard tell of one local family which was so large that the children could not all go out at the same time.

This, I understand, was in the 1930s. Was this true or just one of those exaggerated myths put about at that time?

Did you have a bathroom? Lots of houses did not have one – and the large tin bath hanging somewhere outside the rear of the house was a common sight.

I seem to recall being told that it was on Friday nights that the tin bath was taken inside and positioned in front of the fire.

Did people draw lots to decide who was first to clamber into the soapy warmth of the bath tub? How was the bathing order worked out? Perhaps you know!

I can remember the local paper telling how a few people were disappointed when they turned up at the then newly-opened Moorclose Swimming Baths hoping to take a bath – a facility provided in the town’s old swimming baths.

Did your house have an inside – or outside toilet? If so, you were lucky.

Some years further back, it was quite common for a number of houses to have to share one outside loo.

Things have changed greatly – although when I watch some of the TV programmes in which couples try to find a house to buy, I still scratch my head in disbelief when some of the prospective purchasers insist on having an en suite for every bedroom.

And I can’t quite believe why some of them turn their noses up at kitchens, often half the size of football pitches, as being a trifle on the small side.

But then my great-grandmother, who lived in compact farm accommodation in North Wales, did all her cooking in the log and coal-fired range oven – which, incidentally, was also used on Mondays to air the washing.

Staying with my great-grandparents was like being transported back into an earlier century – and none the worse for that – although it did make me appreciate the comforts of the 20th century.

How did you do your washing? And how did you dry your washing?

Did your house have a mangle?

Were you lucky enough to have your own wash house?

Did you take your washing to the nearest washateria?

A query here – does anyone know when the first washateria opened hereabouts?

I now realise that I’ve forgotten about the doorstep.

Was it scrupulously step-dashed?

When I walk about, I cast an eye, from time to time, at people’s doorsteps and I reckon that stepdashing has died the death.

Unless, of course, you know any different!

Did you have a telephone?

Can you remember standing outside a phonebox, pence in hand, with the rain pouring down – desperate to make that important phone call?

So what, if anything, have you been able to remember?

Haven’t things changed?