Whenever people mention real fires i'm always reminded of my grandad, he was a real miserable old sod who's only passion in life was his garden.
Get him in the garden and he was passionate, knowledgeable and hugely entertaining.
He had a huge "garden" though it was more a field with orchards, streams and about 7 greenhouses all back to back all with different plants growing in them.
There were goats too which i always thought odd.
Anyway the fire connection, he was a real skinflint or maybe just a tradtionalist, who knows what went on in his head.
Whenever he was in the house he would sit in front of a huge fireplace with a blanket on his knees, the fire was NEVER lit.
I always remember that old house because it was always cold, my nan would cater for his every whim, he just sat there.
She used to do all her washing by hand and put it through a mangle outside the kitchen door, the food was kept in a pantry and cooked on a range.
Whenever i think of her i feel deep sadness at first then great happiness as i remember when he died the first 2 things she bought were a washing machine and a fridge.
He was of course a very wealthy man, i say of course because many misers are, i guess that's the trick.
As for polishing yeah i used to do that for hours and hours every day in my bedroom when i was 13 or 14, all my mates did at that age.
Boy we loved our Doc Marten shoes, mine were oxeblood.
A mangle! Gosh, I remember my Nan having one of those, trying to wind a sheet through it was a nightmare. A "copper" was used for washing - like an open-topped 40 gallon oil-drum really, & a "penny blue bag" was always dropped in to whiten stuff, what nonsense!
And she had a "range" too, great for cooking, but always a kettle on the boil. For some reason I can't recall, we always placed orange peel on top of the range.
Toast made on a fork, by the range fire, with lashings of butter never tasted better.
Author