> > Snow days at school hadn't been invented yet, so I walked several blocks through the snow.
>
> I thought everyone used to walk 15 miles to school through the snow. Maybe blocks were a lot longer back then.

Some of those yarns have been stretched a bit. Even in the 1940's, kids who lived a mile and a half (or more) from the school, got to ride the bus. I lived in town and the whole town was within that distance, so our school didn't need a bus. The town was rather poorly laid out, with streets that twisted and turned. There were no real blocks, so I just estimated the distance in blocks. At least that is a unit of measure that people understand these days. I used to think the distance was much greater than it really is. But when I went back to the old neighborhood as an adult, I realized that since I was smaller, with shorter legs, the distance only seemed greater.

Old timers used to tell how much colder winters were back then. The problem was that houses were not insulated, their heating systems were primative and even winter coats didn't insulate like the ones made with modern materials. It wasn't colder, but it felt colder.

Some other images of mid-20th century living are all wrong. Usually TV and movies are to blame.

We moved into a rented house in 1942. It had a furnace, indoor plumbing, electricity, screens on the windows, a gas stove in the kitchen for cooking, and a small gas heater in the living room. The floors were hardwood. We had a radio. After the war, we got a telephone. There was a nice yard in front and two big porches. We also had an automatic washer, but it was the only one in town. Some of the other houses in the neighborhood were much nicer. That was in the mountains of Eastern Kentucky, an area now considered a poverty pocket. Some people still believe that the residents of that area live in shacks with outhouses, no elecricity, and no plumbing. It is assumed that moonshine is the major industry. People who believe that have been watching too many bad movies. Maybe those movies represent a time such as the Great Depression, but I don't remember anything like that. The big improvements in housing since my childhood have been central heat and air conditioning, plus all kinds of communication devices like computers, cordless phones, and television. Kitchens back then contained only a stove, a refrigerator and a sink. Cabinets were not usually built in.

There I go again! I start answering a simple question and then I get carried away. Sorry.
Howard