Emptying the privvies"

Brook Street, Buckley

1970

The night soil cart used to park in Foxes Lane, Middle Common, at night while the two soil men had their meal break. They used to park off the road deliberately because of the pong!

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We, too, had an outside loo, which had it survived would be there waiting just for you!

When I was about nine (1953), and smoking regularly as boys do at that age!, I went to our wooden outside toilet. Unfortunately, events overtook me because I dropped my cigarette onto some newspapers which had fallen to the floor. All of a sudden, there were flames and I thought, "I'm not hanging round here!" So, the whole thing burnt to the ground and we had to use next door's. I did the family a favour, really, as this event resulted in the decision to convert the heap of burnt rubble into a little garden (only dug up about three years ago) and one of the bedrooms of the house was converted into a bathroom with a flush toilet - result, two redundant night soil men!

I must have persuaded my parents that this event was an act of God as I cannot remember being punished for it.

Author: Hughes, Harry

Emptying the privvies"

Brook Street, Buckley

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