Consider entering your grandparents’ home, where every room had a story to tell and every corner possessed a relic. Of these, the oil lamp shelves placed on the walls to this day will make you feel the warmth that you used to experience while reading under them. These shelves, which were an important part of the early twentieth-century houses, were not just practical – they were a symbol of a time when the light of an oil lamp would unite family members in the evening.
Usually wooden or metallic, oil lamp shelves were commonly located in various parts of the house to ensure the light’s effectiveness. These shelves were frequently located on walls in the living room, bedrooms, and hallways. They were not randomly placed; they were strategically positioned to ensure that there was enough light for activities done in the evening such as reading, sewing or even family meetings.
The form of these shelves or niches was quite diverse, ranging from flat ledges to more complex constructions complete with guardrails to avoid lamp tip overs. In wealthier homes, these shelves may have been elaborately decorated or even incorporated into the design of the room, complete with carved-out niches and fancy trim that matched the rest of the house.
This was because oil lamps presented a fire risk due to the exposed flame. Shelves for oil lamps were therefore intended to keep the lamps stowed away from the everyday activities in the house while at the same time letting in the light. These were usually located in positions that were not easily accessible to children and not close to curtains or any other combustible material. This tactical positioning ensured that risks of fire breakouts were reduced to the barest minimum while issuing adequate light.
The existence of oil lamp shelves in old houses gives us an insight into the lifestyles and the technological advancements that were available at the time. Lighting was an important part of people’s lives before the use of gas and electric lights and this meant that the management of lighting was an important part of the daily routine and architecture. These shelves were an important part of the interior design and showed how people of that time managed to optimize the use of living spaces.
Today, oil lamp shelves in historic homes are kept for both their functionality and their historical and cultural value. In the modern homes where such shelves have been installed, they are used for storing candles, plant among other items to enhance the beauty of the house. This is because preservation measures always aim at preserving the original construction features and the material used in the construction in this case the design of the period.
Therefore, the shelves for oil lamps in old houses are not only practical furniture pieces, but they are also a symbol of the creativity of the previous generations and a link to the tangible world of the past. Such details give us ideas about the changes that were made by our ancestors and make us reflect on how these architectural landmarks should be preserved.
Parent’s devastating decision – forced to pull the plug on 13-year-old daughter after sleepover horror
Devastated parents forced to pull the plug on their 13-year-old daughter after sleepover horror. They’ve now issued a warning to spare others from the same tragedy.
When Esra Haynes died, she was just 13 years old, and the reason for her tragic death is bizarre.
This young girl who was referred to as “determined, fun, cheeky and talented” by the Montrose Football Netball Club that she co-captained, got caught in a viral craze called chrominghttps://comsoftvn.com/in-order-to-pick…a-tiny-stray-dog/, which involves inhaling toxic chemicals through the mouth or nose to get high.
Esra was an athlete and lead a healthy life, racing BMX bikes with her brothers, and leading her team to a national aerobics’ championship in Queensland. But all that was taken away from her after a wrong decision she made on March 31 during a sleepover at a friend’s house.
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As she wanted to be part of the viral trend, Esra inhaled a toxic amount of aerosol deodorant and went into cardiac arrest, sustaining irreparable brain damage.
Her parents were devastated. Appearing on A Current Affair with host Ally Langdon, they spoke of the heartbreak and the fatal consequences of inhaling toxic chemicals in an attempt to prevent something similar from happening to other naive young people.
“It was just the regular routine of going to hang out with her mates,” her mom Andrea, told Langdon in the interview. Her father Paul added, “We always knew where she was and we knew who she was with.
It wasn’t anything out of the ordinary…To get this phone call at that time of night, (it) was one of the calls no parent ever wants to have to receive, and we unfortunately got that call: ‘Come and get your daughter.’”
Initially, her friends weren’t aware how serious Esra’s condition was. They only thought she was having a panic attack, not aware that their friends was dying right in front of their eyes. “But after inhaling deodorant, her body was actually starting to shut down, she was in cardiac arrest and no one at the sleepover used cardiac arrest,” Langdon explained.
When her mom arrived by Esra’s side, paramedics were trying to revive her and told Andrea that her daughter had been chroming, a word that the scared mother heard for the first time ever.
Esra was transferred to the hospital and was placed on life support, but just eight hours later, the parents were told that her brain was damaged beyond repair and that needed to make a decision to turn the life support off.
Knowing there was nothing that could be done, Andrea and Paul called relatives and family members to say their final goodbyes. “It was a very, very difficult thing to do to such a young soul. She was put onto a bed so we could lay with her. We cuddled her until the end.”
Esra’s siblings, Imogen, Seth and Charlie are have been shattered ever since their sister is gone.
“It was really devastating, devastating for everyone involved, all her friends as well,” Paul said. “It’s been the most difficult, traumatic time any parent could go through. We haven’t been sleeping, we’ve hardly been eating, we haven’t been smiling–we’re not ourselves…But it’s not just affected us, it’s the community as well.”
Following Esra’s passing, Andrea and Paul are doing all in their power to put an end to the crazy viral craze that took their daughter’s life.
Speaking to 7 News, Paul said he wished he knew of chroming when Esra was still alive, so he could have warned her of the dangers: “If we were educated and the word had been put out there, we would have had the discussion around our kitchen table for sure.
“We need to ramp it up and let these kids find out the information first-hand, and not through friends, and not through social media–then they’re given the right advice off the bat.”
Esra isn’t the first victim of chroming. Over the years, a number of young people lost their lives from the consequences of it as it can easily lead to seizures, heart attack, suffocation, sudden sniffing death, coma, and organ failure.
“We’ve got the pictures in our mind which will never be erased, you know, of what we were confronted with,” Paul told Langdon. “Our gut was ripped out.”
We are so very sorry for this family’s loss and we wish no parent ever experiences such heartbreak.
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