Yes!, I do I miss the warm glow the comfort, on a cold night, but not taking the ash out, the only draw back to a coal fire/....We bought one of them electric fires, that go on to the walls, its not as good as the real thing, but it helps?. You have poked up some memories for me this time. Thank you!.....
No, I don't miss them. Some of my earliest memories are of the noise of the coal being dumped down the coal chute where my parents lived at that time.
When I was older I remember the coal in a shed behind the apartment where we lived and I would sometimes have to go get chunks of it and carry them to the house. I didn't like that dark shed.
I remember the dust from the little bucket by the coal stove that the ashes were put in. And the black smoke at times.
Now that I'm older I am thankful for the gas heat we have in this house.
Never had coal, though I was thinking about it the other day while reading Hemingway's memoir of Paris in the 1920s ("A Moveable Feast"), in which he mentions that the usual heating stoves at that place and time used egg-sized briquets of compressed coal dust, which I guess would elmiinate some of the problems people complain of with ordinary coal.
Thirty years ago I lived in an old house equiipped with antique natural gas heaters, little things on legs covered with Victorian decorations that contained equally ornate ceramic elements that would get glowing red from the flames and put out a lot of heat. They were very cheery. My heat is electric now and I miss them.
I personally don't remember it at our house. We had fuel oil furnace, I recall. We may have when I was a baby. I do recall my parents talking about having a coal furnace when they were first married in the mid 40s. My grandmother did have coal until she died in the early 1960s. She had two black coal buckets, one sat by the kitchen stove and the other in the living room by the pot belly stove. I recall my folks talking about the black dust that settled on furniture. Perhaps a flue did not work properly, or there was residue with coal anyway. I wanted to add that my dad tells the story of walking to school in the snow, (knee high?? lol) and how the kids pants, shoes, and socks were be wet. They sat by the pot belly stove in the classroom to dry out.
Yes, I remember having a coal fire The coal would be delivered loose on the pavement, my brother & I would shovel it into the coalshed before Dad got home from the coal mine. We had a small oven in the range, but I don't remember Mam cooking with it, only drying sticks to use for starting the fire Toast on a coal fire is the best .. I miss that
I have a gas fire now. loved the coal fires but did not like the work involved keeping it going. I always sat in the grate best place to be watching the flames flicker and the smoke.
Same as the old tin baths they were wonderful at the time. then progressed to the bathroom inside the house. Now its easier to shower.
lovely memories but guess we all must progress and live easier lives.
Cleaning the grate out in the morning. Bringing in the coal from the bunker on a wet cold winter evening. Watching the wind blow down the chimney and the smoke billowing across the ceiling. Listening to the whine of the draft through the door and window cracks as it compensates for the chimney up-draft. Resetting the fire in the evening, looking for sufficient wood and paper. Holding up the daily newspaper over the opening to create more draft to the bottom of the fire. Watching it go brown in the centre and hoping you can stop it before it catches fire and shoots up the chimney. Listening to the fire engine come down the road to put out Mrs xxxxxx's chimney fire.
No, when we lived with my great grandmother she had a heater that used coal. The coal truck would come and leave the coal near the back door. It could be hard getting the coal dust off your hands. Mother hated it because it was so messy to work with. Poppy
i remember coal fires. when i was first married our first little house had a coal fire and we set the chimney on fire so had to call for the chimney sweep. yes, theres a part of me that misses coal fires, the cosiness and toasted crumpets but not the burnt marks on my legs caused by sitting too close to the fire on cold winter nights.
Comments
Yes!, I do I miss the warm glow the comfort, on a cold night, but not taking the ash out, the only draw back to a coal fire/....We bought one of them electric fires, that go on to the walls, its not as good as the real thing, but it helps?. You have poked up some memories for me this time. Thank you!.....
No, I don't miss them. Some of my earliest memories are of the noise of the coal being dumped down the coal chute where my parents lived at that time.
When I was older I remember the coal in a shed behind the apartment where we lived and I would sometimes have to go get chunks of it and carry them to the house. I didn't like that dark shed.
I remember the dust from the little bucket by the coal stove that the ashes were put in. And the black smoke at times.
Now that I'm older I am thankful for the gas heat we have in this house.
Never had coal, though I was thinking about it the other day while reading Hemingway's memoir of Paris in the 1920s ("A Moveable Feast"), in which he mentions that the usual heating stoves at that place and time used egg-sized briquets of compressed coal dust, which I guess would elmiinate some of the problems people complain of with ordinary coal.
Thirty years ago I lived in an old house equiipped with antique natural gas heaters, little things on legs covered with Victorian decorations that contained equally ornate ceramic elements that would get glowing red from the flames and put out a lot of heat. They were very cheery. My heat is electric now and I miss them.
I personally don't remember it at our house. We had fuel oil furnace, I recall. We may have when I was a baby. I do recall my parents talking about having a coal furnace when they were first married in the mid 40s. My grandmother did have coal until she died in the early 1960s. She had two black coal buckets, one sat by the kitchen stove and the other in the living room by the pot belly stove. I recall my folks talking about the black dust that settled on furniture. Perhaps a flue did not work properly, or there was residue with coal anyway. I wanted to add that my dad tells the story of walking to school in the snow, (knee high?? lol) and how the kids pants, shoes, and socks were be wet. They sat by the pot belly stove in the classroom to dry out.
Yes, I remember having a coal fire The coal would be delivered loose on the pavement, my brother & I would shovel it into the coalshed before Dad got home from the coal mine. We had a small oven in the range, but I don't remember Mam cooking with it, only drying sticks to use for starting the fire Toast on a coal fire is the best .. I miss that
I have a gas fire now. loved the coal fires but did not like the work involved keeping it going. I always sat in the grate best place to be watching the flames flicker and the smoke.
Same as the old tin baths they were wonderful at the time. then progressed to the bathroom inside the house. Now its easier to shower.
lovely memories but guess we all must progress and live easier lives.
Cleaning the grate out in the morning. Bringing in the coal from the bunker on a wet cold winter evening. Watching the wind blow down the chimney and the smoke billowing across the ceiling. Listening to the whine of the draft through the door and window cracks as it compensates for the chimney up-draft. Resetting the fire in the evening, looking for sufficient wood and paper. Holding up the daily newspaper over the opening to create more draft to the bottom of the fire. Watching it go brown in the centre and hoping you can stop it before it catches fire and shoots up the chimney. Listening to the fire engine come down the road to put out Mrs xxxxxx's chimney fire.
Nooooo!!!!!!!!!!
No, when we lived with my great grandmother she had a heater that used coal. The coal truck would come and leave the coal near the back door. It could be hard getting the coal dust off your hands. Mother hated it because it was so messy to work with. Poppy
i remember coal fires. when i was first married our first little house had a coal fire and we set the chimney on fire so had to call for the chimney sweep. yes, theres a part of me that misses coal fires, the cosiness and toasted crumpets but not the burnt marks on my legs caused by sitting too close to the fire on cold winter nights.
They are not bad, but for most of my life I have had gas fires, so I can manage without coal fires.