Waddell’s – The Wonderland of Televisions and Appliances

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• That 17" Admiral TV at $ 289.00 is equivalent to about $2300.00 today, even the refridgerator is equivallent to about 2 grand.

• So, who complains about doing laundry now! Anybody?

  Your welcome for the story and all us kids learned to do a laundry that way...AND..My mom was ahead of the ecological curve, even when we got thee new washer and dryer and it became almost to convenient, if we kids were going to wash something, mom made sure that there was always something else to go into that washer ...always a full load!

• Man - who opened the door to another UrbanRat story?!? ;)

• There’s a working Maytag dishwasher in my kitchen bought from “Waddell’s Sound and Radio Ltd.” in December, 1978. Final price after discount and taxes, $695.45. Costly but it was worth it since it ended a lot of arguments about whose turn it is to do the dishes. Appliances back then were mostly steel parts, not today’s plastic, explaining the long life. I can replace any part although it takes a set of wrenches and three types of screwdrivers. As for washday, the church and Sunday played big in the timing. One had a bath on Saturday night to be clean for Sunday. And you wouldn’t dare do laundry on the day of rest. The wet wash on the clothesline would cause a scandal. Monday was the day

• Aaron! Aaron baited me to tell a story, Chris! Don't you just hate us old geezers with long memories and the way it was so long ago...EH!

  So do does the laundry in your house, now that you are in school and blogging all over the place? ;)

• My grandmother still has a working wringer washer in her basement!! I'll have to ask her where she got it!!!

• Urbanrat, I too am very familiar with the wringer/washer type.

  As a child I had my arm stuck in one. It pulled me into it all the way up tot my armpit. As soon as it started to lift my little body off of the floor I started to scream. Luckily my Mom was upstairs and came running to stop it.

  Now you know why I am as demented as I am :)

• Oh my god! How I remember Waddell's..wringer washers, hanging clean clothes on the line in the back yard, ironing with that coke bottle with the sprinkly cap to wet the shirts..before permanent press!...

  I have fond memories of the "Hi-Fi" my parents had in the living room..and yes...seems to me they received a "gift with purchase" of LP's...classical and show tunes! That Christmas my brother & I received the Beatles "white" album and we played it on the beloved Hi-Fi for hours on end!

  That was way back when the "egg lady" deliverd my mom two or three dozen farm fresh eggs every Friday afternoon. She would have cleaned the house from top to bottom which included hard waxing the floors with that "Buffer" and it's lamb wool pads! Later that evening, my paents would go to Dominion Store on Dougall Rd...park in the same spot every time, and buy the groceries for the week...no mid-week shopping back then! By Friday's we were left with a few eggs, some potaotes and some stray pieces of fresh fruit.

  Does anyone remember

• ME, that's part of my story I didn't tell you, I to got my arm caught in the wringer right up to my armpit also but nothing was broken ...young, pilable and it seems stupid!

  Susan, my mom also had the coke bottle with the stopper in it to dampen clothes for ironing, eight white shirts per week all ironed and starched for my dad, and we too shopped at that Dominion Store. or when we took my grandmother the Loblaws on Ouellette.

• Urbanrat...I wonder if we know each other from back then...we must have lived in the same neighbourhood.

  I live in Ottawa now and my younger brother sends me stuff from International Metropolis. Do you feel safe telling me who you are?