Raelene Boyle on Julia Zemiro's Home Delivery & iView

We had a gas copper, too.  Mum used to boil things up every now and then, even after she got the twin tub!  I have a vague memory of the wringer machine - Mum was always paranoid about it as my much older sister got her arm caught in it once, and my elderly godmother (who lived next door) always insisted that Mum had to stand on a rubber mat when using it.  So many things in the shows are familiar but there's also a lot that I've said to the kids, "we never did that/had that and neither did anyone else".  One of the things they haven't been able to replicate (and I guess it's mostly about food, after all) is the tightness of community in the suburbs in those times.  We had gates in the side and back fences, or just panels left off, so that we could go half the street through back yards.  We played in the street and on the road, and even though stranger danger was a thing, we were told if anyone bothered us, go into the nearest house as they'll look after you and know where you belong.  In this time, before mobile phones and when many families didn't even have a landline.  We walked and rode our bikes and skateboards everywhere and there were always people around.