Autre temps, autre moeurs ...

You had to pay sixpence or eight pence for a bath my dad said - 

If you paid sixpence, you didn't get much water -

You'd see lads going to the baths, their towels over their arms - 

You went once or twice a week - 

Houses didn't have bathrooms, not the houses we lived in - 

You had a tin bath which you filled with water from a copper - 

You used a saucepan to put the hot water in - 

But when you grew up, you didn't want that - 

I pictured my dad, just turned fifteen, walking down pinched streets to the Public Baths - 

He smiled a surprising gentle smile - 

Autre temps, autre moeurs he said - 

15.45

Monday 22 May 2017

Staunton Road

Havant

Hampshire