I have often wondered why bare feet are a habit here. Is it because of our weather? Is it due to the fact that it was not that long ago many people, especially children, usually only had one or two pairs of shoes? Kids maybe had school shoes and that was that; maybe a pair of gumboots for winter but shoes were expensive and not to be worn outside for play.
So bare feet was the go-to. Our feet hardened with use. We never felt stones or uneven ground. I do remember feeling those blinking prickles on the lawn as a kid - a real pain literally. Also the bee stings were something to look forward to, sitting down suddenly to pull either the prickles or the sting out. Ouch.
I must admit I have got a bit soft in old age. I have stopped going barefoot outside so, on the odd occasion I do, I feel every stone or piece of bark.
Actually, clothing in general was different in times past. Many of us had school uniforms that were also often worn as best to church or for family get-togethers. Well, they were our best clothes. It is funny looking at old photos of family with the odd kid wearing his school uniform.
From memory, girls seemed not to have to wear their uniforms for best. My sisters always had nice dresses, usually made by Mum. The most I could look forward to was a white shirt and the mauve tie I got at about 7. The rest was school uniform in the photos. I still had that tie as a teenager. It no longer fitted of course.
We did have hand-me-downs from older cousins and the older children of my parents’ friends. We didn’t mind, we never knew any different. We never considered it charity, no one did. It was just common sense. Kids outgrow clothes long before the clothes wear out, especially “clothes for nice”. Binning those clothes would be considered hugely wasteful by working people so better to give them to others.
I hope that still happens. Or do the clothes now go to charity shops, something we never had when I was young. We didn’t need them. People seemed to look after each other and New Zealand was a kinder, more egalitarian place. Maybe we never had huge expectations of life back then. We were perhaps not as worldly as we are now.
Old black and white photos taken around home and in the garden show us in mostly pretty old clothes, footy jerseys, gumboots, old jeans. Nothing flash.
Buying clothes for a family has always been expensive. In the days of large families, I mean six to eight children or more - very common where I grew up, it would have been a real struggle.
I simply do not know how my parents did it with a large family. Like many mothers of her time, Mum never worked. Dad worked very long hours. Money was always an issue, no different to today for many young families.
In terms of getting new clothes as a kid, significant times were when the school year started, new uniforms, or when Dad had a decent win on the geegees. The hand-me-downs featured otherwise. The only other time was when I left home at 17. I got a new suit, a couple of shirts and a tie and belt. The belt was thrown in free in those days.
Clothing did seem to become cheaper as the years went by - or that may just be my imagination, of course.
Yes, the geegees. Remember that was the time of rugby, racing and beer, a very different time to today’s New Zealand. Horse racing was a huge passion for all sectors of society. A “wee flutter” was something many families looked forward to each week along with Friday night fish and chips.
