Putting a sock in Miss Mop (From York Press)

Putting a sock in Miss Mop

8:40am Thursday 11th October 2012 in Letters By Reader's letter

THE photograph of the mop at the Opera House floods brought a smile and many happy memories (The Press, October 1).

At the age of 15 in 1954, I came from Thixendale to York to train as a nursery nurse at the Glen Residential Nursery, Heworth, and had to mop the bathroom floors.

It was thick brown lino and on my second attempt I heard this tremendous thud and a loud shout of “Jeff-er-son”.

I still have the diary with my drawing of Matron Jenkins’s final crunch as she slid across my sodden floor (Carry On Matron comes to mind).

She then insisted on teaching me how to mop a floor and after one broken mop handle caused by trying too hard, my mopped floors were perfect and my nickname became Muscle Min.

As I always sang and whistled while I worked, she would send a child with a sock. Coming from Thixendale it took a while to get “put a sock in it”.

I have always remembered her and her words “squeeze it out and give it elbow grease for perfect moppers”, bellowing in my ear.

What I want to know is how on earth does anyone mop a floor with ‘‘that’’ mop at the Opera House? Ha ha.

Ivy Eden, Pinewood Grove, York.