Hi Murial your piece reminded me of our first home a tied cottage no electricity no water except from a pump up the yard and a bucket loo at the top of the garden. I had to learn to use those flat irons was told to spit on it if it sizzled and shot off it was the right heat always needed a piece of old balnket to test. I had a few burns on my wrists where the iron flipped over. The loo buckets were emptied late on Saturday night when the men came back from the pub having dug a big hole in the afternoon. I had a copper to boil the washing we would run outside and fill it when it rained not a drop wasted. The ashes were tipped on a spare piece of land behind the loos I used to collect the cinders to bank up the fire and to keep the copper alight in the summer when my husband came back from the fields clothes soaked in sweat.so he could have a good wash and I could wash his shirts. No bath or showere except the tin one that hung on the wall. Yet there was a satisfaction a pride in my shiny blackleaded grate and the snow white washing and nappy's hanging on the line.Yes I had two babies in those conditions and it did not seem like hard work there were 4 cottages and we always seemed to be laughing. Even if it was chasing a mouse . Rhoda I cooked on the fire or a primus stove with a pan and three steamers perched on top. Yes I was happy