Hoi Polloi

RDP Monday: PARLOUR

Fond memories of past Easter celebrations with my family, grandma, aunties, uncles, cousins, and neighbors. Entertained in the palatial family home that was built by my carpenter grandpa, who had long passed away by the time of my debut on the family stage. Guests greeted in the foyer which emptied into the parlour, which led to the dining room.

All very posh sounding. The foyer barely big enough to hold a freestanding coat rack which could hold four coats with proper weight distribution. If the front door was open…fugetaboutit. The parlour held a red sofa and two big mismatched chairs. One green. One brown. A round picture tube television in dark brown hard wood cabinet took up the rest of the available footprint. The dining room was packed with a floor standing radio with equally impressive wood cabinetry and a sewing machine in a cabinet built by my cabinetmaker great grandfather. When the table extension leaves were in; the squeeze around the table was tight for the typical middle age bulk of the era. Everyone packed in. Crowd spillage to TV trays in the parlour Teenagers at the kitchen table post preparation pandamonium. Children my age banished to card tables on the enclosed yet still chilly back porch. Talk about a full house. Oh yes, I forgot the salon, which was really the parlour after the feast concluded with it’s inevitable boisterous political crosstalk. Yikes!

Deluxe middle-class living in 1960 U.S.A. It was all in what you named the rooms. So instead of a front closet, front room, and fancy eating room; we had a foyer, parlour / salon, and dining room. Who could ask for more. That’s not even flaunting the carriage house where my grandmother resided.