Spring Cleaning Time

When I was wee my Dad used to get us to eat stewed rhubarb by telling us it was 'Nature's spring cleaning for the stomach', by which he meant it made us 'regular', and cleaned us out!

To be honest, we'd all have eaten it anyway because we loved it - stewed, in a pie, or made into crumble.  Or raw, chopped into sticks which we would dip into a saucer of sugar: the ultimate sweet and sour! 

So my thoughts on 'Time' today are basically remembering the simple pleasures of childhood, when childhood obesity was almost unknown, and also remembering how very very important it was to have a proper 'Spring Clean' at the right time of the year. 

Everyone I knew gave their house a total and thorough cleaning as soon as the weather was warm and dry enough to let you get all the rugs hung outside.  Mum did it room by room; it would be emptied of all furniture, which would be carried outside into our yard, to be washed down and polished carefully.  The curtains came down for washing, and the rugs were taken outside where my brothers, sister and I would beat them to within an inch of their lives, using any implement - tennis racquets, brooms, cricket bats - which came to hand. 

While all the stuff was outside, the windows and woodwork were carefully washed and dried, as were the ornaments and dishes which had been carted to the kitchen.  When everything was put back in place, the rooms smelled amazing - full of fresh air, and beeswax polish, and clean cotton.

We were living on a very tight budget; Mum didn't work, and Dad was a gardener on a private estate.  The wages were very low, and new furniture was a rarity.  However, by taking everything out and then putting it all back in, arranged differently, it was kind of like getting new stuff every year.  I think the act of the big clean was symbolic too; it heralded the beginning of summer, and getting rid of unwanted baggage from winter. 

I used to practice a modified form of the spring clean (lived in a flat, had to just move the stuff from one room to the next) when I was a young Mum, and didn't work.  However, it's proved a bit tricky to keep it going so my best efforts now are usually one room being thoroughly gutted when I'm on holiday, and the usual housework the rest of the time, fitted in at weekends. 

Today was the first Friday that I found myself free for ages.  I work full-time over 4 days, and Friday is almost always my day off, but I've been really busy for a few months.  Today though, a plan to meet a friend fell through, so after doing the usual stuff, and changing the bed etc., I turned out a couple of cupboards and then picked some rhubarb and transformed it into 3 crumbles. 

One is for me (G doesn't like it), one for my next door neighbour who isn't very well, and one is for Mum who is hosting a family gathering tonight of nephews, nieces and great nieces. 

I'm happy to think I'm helping so many people to good intestinal health, and that I made good use today of the time that I normally simply don't have.