1952 Diary

17th June 1952

 Dear Diary, Today my husband, Bob, went to work as usual and left me a note:

I am so sorry I had to leave so early I had a meeting 

 That I could not miss, it depends on my whole job!

 If everything is not done I will NOT be happy. 

 See you tonight.

 This is what happens every day! He just leaves me to clean everything up, put everything away, get the children clean and cook the dinner. The children almost never get to see him he is always going off everywhere to meetings. Every day I am used to this but today I had just had enough! Why can’t we swap lives for a month! But I suppose I have to work otherwise he will NOT give me my weekly pay. I wish that with a snap of my fingers all my work will be done! But unfortunately that’s not how it works. So, to start off the day, I whizzed my hair up into my curlers and got to work. I scrubbed the dishes so well that I could see my reflection! I could really feel my arms aching from doing the dishes when I was vacuuming the children’s rooms. At lunchtime I made some sandwiches with sausages and tomato, then after we had all eaten, straight away I got back to work with bathing and showering the children until they were as shiny as the clean dishes in the draw! I picked out some clothes for them and then I shimmied them into their clothes and then sent them to their rooms to read. I started on the dinner, I popped the chicken into the oven and prepared a salad. When I finished the dinner I laid it on the table and quickly whipped around the house tidying and straitening until it was spic and span. I zoomed back to my bedroom and took my curlers out of my hair and got out of my cleaning clothes and lay down on the couch for a rest, when suddenly the door burst open and it was Bob he was home early! “Is everything clean, is I all tidy, is the dinner ready? Where are the children?” He exclaimed. 
 “Yes…Yes and Yes…. Oh and the children are in their rooms reading, waiting for you to get home.” 
 “Oh Mara, You work too hard, here is your weekly pay” he said as he handed me some money, wait a minute; this is DOUBLE my normal pay. I looked up at Bob, he smiled, “Thank you Bob, thank you”.