Reminiscences

Growing up in the 1940s, a frosty morning in the middle of winter was something to look forward to. Especially if the frost was white and measured in excess of 12 degrees. In the early 1940s there were no refrigerators or deep freezers in our home; the only things that electricity powered were the electric lights, a crackly radio, electric jug and toaster.

Mum and Dad, by observing the night sky would alert us to the  possibilities of a hard frost. We would then assemble water,  jelly crystals, soft drink syrup, three or four 300 ml flat cough mixture bottles, corks and string.  All the ingredients were mixed together according to taste, put into the bottles with no head space, corked and finally, the cork was securely tied. They were then put on a shelf outside the backdoor for the frost to do its work. In the morning if the frost was hard enough, the bottles were cracked in a number of places. They were taken inside and slightly thawed under the hot water tap, glass removed, to release a fully formed flavoured ice block.

On a school morning, on the shady side of the street with a hard frost, large sheets of ice formed on the footpath and these made ideal skating rinks, which would get longer and muddier with use. One particular spot was very long. With a bit of run you could skate well over ten metres. It was a spot where all the boys stopped on the way to school. Everybody lined up and took turns, with the odd person coming a cropper and arriving at school a little bit dirty. There was a similar feature at the bottom of the school playground.  On a real frosty day you would be lucky to get one go. By lunchtime it would thaw and on a number of occasions I can remember it being out of bounds and supervised to stop us kids turning up in class horribly muddy.

Frosty mornings have been wide and varied since. From negotiating black ice on the way to work, to curling rinks and frozen dams in the Maniototo. One lasting memory was of the Dunedin CBD in the sixties. Travelling from the outer suburbs on the early morning bus, to the CBD on a very clear still frosty morning, the city was coming to life. The sun was just coming up, the smoke from many chimneys, going straight up into the sky, the steam engines in the railway yard doing the same thing and a very slight haze across the flat  created by the earth warming up. From a steamed up trolley bus window it gave one a secure warmth, to be alive and be a small part of the new day.

Grant Ward 

Photos

Poolburn Dam 1980s (top), Taieri River Sutton Maniototo 2000s