It’s not a book I would advocate reading at bedtime, some of the facts are quite stomach turning. Like dog faeces being collected and sold to tanneries to be rubbed by hand into specialist leathers used to cover books or make expensive gloves.
You could have had a job as a bone grubber collecting animal bones off the streets to make tallow candles, soap and glue.
One story I whispered in Philip’s ear as he was dropping off to sleep was about the 82 bone combs found on the Mary-Rose warship, raised in the 1980’s, still containing nits that were almost 500 years old.
I can see your faces now screwing up in disgust. Sorry I can’t help but laugh. I must be a bit warped I think haha.
Listen to this then for a bit of late night reading. Did you know that in the 1800’s all human sewage went straight into the River Thames from holes in the floorboards of dwellings, and in the summer the windows of the House of Commons could not be opened because of the dreadful stench half choking the MP’s. In the Palace of Westminster the curtains were soaked in bleach to disguise the smell.
And don’t get me started on eels being stewed and eaten in long pieces then swilled down with the liquid they were stewed in. Yuck !!!
Okay enough of the stuff that makes you baulk. Here’s a sweeter fact for you. Did you know that sugar in the 1700’s was a luxury and as time went on and it became more affordable the size of teaspoons went from a quarter to a third of a tablespoon.
Think they could have done with some masks back in the day don’t you. Haha. I really am sorry for keeping laughing but I’m just imagining your faces reading this.
I promise to get my naughtiness under control by the next post and I hope I haven’t put you off your food.
Take care and please come back soon.
Lynn
X
Ps. I’ve borrowed these images and if they are yours I hope you won’t mind. Thanks lynn x
Well Lynn!! Now tht really did make me chuckle....maybe I'm warped too.....and they called them the good old days eh? We really don't know we are born do we? Thanks for sharing all your wonderful facts this week....keep them coming :-)
ReplyDeleteHugs,
Annie x
I think we all have a bit of the weird and wonderful in is Annie haha xxx
DeleteThat book sounds fascinating, I love facts like that! People who say that they wish they'd been born in another century seem to forget all the smells, lack of sanitation and filth, don't they? xxx
ReplyDeleteMight send it down to jon for his birthday. He’ll have to read it before the rum and colas though or you could be cleaning the rugs again haha xxx
DeleteThe book sounds fascinating, but the photos you shared turned my stomach. Good thing I never eat breakfast. Hope you have a good weekend, Lynn. I'm not sure I will now (grin).
ReplyDeleteHaha. Hope your stomach has settled xx
Deletevery interesting about bleached curtains! they would have been rotting and stink as badly as sewerage! I find all that kind of trivial info fascinating too.
ReplyDeleteThink we are all a bit weird Betty haha x
DeleteWhat a fascinating book! I might have been screwing up my nose a couple of times, but I think I might be able to sleep alright :-) The eels are properly disgusting, though! xxx
ReplyDeleteIt’s all disgusting Ann. Can’t understand why I keep laughing about it. Must be the naughty child in me haha xx
DeleteHi Lynn, sounds like a very interesting book, thank goodness for Mr Bazalegette otherwise they would still be pooing through the window! The Victorians were a clever lot. Sorry to hear you're in Lockdown again. Take care and craft on. Hugs, Angela xXx
ReplyDeleteWhat a fascinating book. A bit yucky yes, but interesting. Think of all the trivia you can share at dinner parties!! Kate x
ReplyDeleteFolk are sick of me already spewing out these particular facts Kate. Haha x
Deletei want that book!!! I have been watching a YouTube documentary called trashopolis and did you know parts of Tokyo are built on trash!!! Posh ginsa is !!! Take care and keep safe!!
ReplyDeleteIt’s bizarre what fascinates us isn't it Allie haha x
DeleteOh you got me chuckling. I do like weird and wonderful and I am so grateful I live now and not then.
ReplyDeleteI must admit the eel made my stomach turn.
But coming back to using of body fluids...
I do want to say that when I was pregnant (in the seventies), the Dutch pharmaceutical company Organon, (who were the ones that developed 'the pill'), would come and collect my urine a few times a week. I would pee in this large container, and at certain times a van would come and collect it and leave me a clean one. It only happened in the first few months of pregnancy. I think they extracted a certain hormone.
Then later, in my job as a midwife, we kept the placentas (afterbirth) for a pharmaceutical company too.
Nowadays they can make so many substances synthetically. No more rubbing sh.t.
Have a lovely weekend,
Lisca
Think you’ve given us all a laugh Lynn, and yes facts like that fascinate me too knew re paoaice of Westminster and sewerage smell. I loved London and when visited my family, who lived in Caledonian Rd not far from Kings Cross in 2006, I loved walking after tubing around the cut and came home each day with fascinating tales eg saw the original London goal near the theatre in round in a back street, and the first prison was called the Clink... hence the colloquial term used for it today. My family who had to work were amazed at my exploration... I just love history and London is full of it.
ReplyDeleteOur history by comparison is very short.
Happy smiles day.
Thanks for sharing, and may God bless and keep you and all whom you love safe and well.
Prayer hugs, Shaz in Oz. X
{Wonderful Words of Life - Shaz in Oz}
{Calligraphy Cards - Shaz in Oz}
Tubing around the city not cut! And palace not paoice 😂
ReplyDeleteI did enjoy a chuckle. But eels, ugh.
ReplyDeleteI didn't particularly enjoy history at school - dull as ditchwater as I recollect - but the older I've got the more I enjoy finding out about ordinary people in the past leading their everyday lives.
I have been a prolific sewer of clothes since childhood, as were my Mum, her sister, and my Gran, and I recently discovered that several of our ancestors in the 1700's were in the trade (in Saddleworth near to your neck of the woods Lynn). Fascinating stuff.
So sorry to hear you are in confinement again. As you say there seems to be no sense whatever in the new measures. Any chance of a few more songs from you and the, I presume, no longer wandering welder!
I actually enjoyed this post.
ReplyDeleteDidn't there used to be a rag and bone man in the not too distant past?
Stay safe. xxxx