Just *reading* about the smells brought back memories! Our house was heated - in two rooms at least - with coal and with 'Esso Blue' paraffin. (Kids today are shocked when I tell them the other rooms in the house had frost in the *inside* of the windows in winter.) Paraffin was also one of the smells of primary school, as our classroom featured a large paraffin heater, protected by a wire cage, in the corner. As for coal tar - I loved the soap's smell but the biggest 'hit' of coal tar was when we had coughs and colds, when the 'Wright's Coal Tar Vaporizer' was placed on top of the wardrobe in our bedroom, filled with coal tar liquid that would be gently evaporated by a lit tea-light candle beneath. We probably inhaled the equivalent of about 60 Woodbines a night!
I had forgotton about coal tar soap. That smell takes me straight back to primary school. And once you're there the whole lot comes with it: that chalky smell of poster paint, and children's paintings where the paint is so thick it's practically plaster, but also headaches and brain freeze from drinking ice cold milk.
Just *reading* about the smells brought back memories! Our house was heated - in two rooms at least - with coal and with 'Esso Blue' paraffin. (Kids today are shocked when I tell them the other rooms in the house had frost in the *inside* of the windows in winter.) Paraffin was also one of the smells of primary school, as our classroom featured a large paraffin heater, protected by a wire cage, in the corner. As for coal tar - I loved the soap's smell but the biggest 'hit' of coal tar was when we had coughs and colds, when the 'Wright's Coal Tar Vaporizer' was placed on top of the wardrobe in our bedroom, filled with coal tar liquid that would be gently evaporated by a lit tea-light candle beneath. We probably inhaled the equivalent of about 60 Woodbines a night!
I had forgotton about coal tar soap. That smell takes me straight back to primary school. And once you're there the whole lot comes with it: that chalky smell of poster paint, and children's paintings where the paint is so thick it's practically plaster, but also headaches and brain freeze from drinking ice cold milk.
A really evocative post. I can almost smell the coal!
Thanks @Mad About Museums and when I was little my mother could smell the coal, and all too often on me lol.