'Let me put your coat on, pet, and we'll make the beds....'

This cold weather reminds me of winters in the house where I lived after I was born. In the 1950s central heating didn't exist and we lived in a small 2-up, 2-down house. That means two bedrooms upstairs and a living room and kitchen downstairs.

There was a lavatory across the yard outside, and we took a bath in front of the open fire.

The only heating in the house was the open coal fire in the living room, and the living room had a main door onto the street, so that meant much of the heat disappeared out the door.

I was premature and was small and frail when I was born; then I suffered pneumonia in the first year of my life, so I was kept well wrapped up against the cold. Aunts and grandparents knitted cosy cardigans and sweaters for me and my brother and made us lovely woollen hats and gloves to keep us warm.

When my brother had started school and I was three, mum and I would spend time together in the house. We played at being married friends and I would pretend I had a husband and children and we would swap stories about our children being ill and our husbands losing their jobs, and how difficult life was. This was pure fiction, as my dad was always in work and we never had terrible things befall us.

Housework was a major part of mum's day, and keeping the place clean when it was heated by an open coal fire was no mean feat. Keeping it warm in the winter was another challenge.

When it came to making the beds and cleaning upstairs, mum would get my hat and coat, mittens and woolly hat and say 'Come on pet, put your coat on and we'll go upstairs to make the beds.'

Upstairs, where there was no heating, the windows were coated on the inside with a beautiful layer of sparkling ice crystals, and the temperature of the bedrooms was close to freezing point. Our breath formed cold, misty clouds as we breathed out.

As bedtime approached, dad woul light a kerosene heater upstairs so our bedrooms would be warm for us going up to bed clutching our hot water bottles.

We suffered no harm from the cold, but we certainly appreciate central heating now.