The first window blinds I remember were those
at my grandparents’ house. They were in every single window and were not white
but more of a tan color. To me, there
were funny things and I touched them a lot. The blinds were only put up halfway
so that it looked decent from the street. I suppose. They weren’t made of plastic but of a thick
fabric that had been either oiled or glazed.
Heard the words “Holland cloth” in reference to
the blinds which made me think that they must have come from Holland. Well, no
they weren’t but I sure thought that.
Each blind had a silky string cord that hung down in the middle and at
the end of that cord was a circle that was covered in the same silky string. Loved to touch that circle and once when I
did, the blind went zooming up to the curtain rod. Was in big trouble. But my
grandfather only laughed and fixed that blind thank heavens.
These types of blinds were what everyone had in
their houses. It was the thing to have.
But with the advent of plastic, window blinds
drastically changed for that was what they were made of and they smelled a
smelly smell. A distinct smell. Fumes
permeated the entire room where those blinds were. Windows were opened to let that ghastly smell
out. I remember that because I did it a
lot, much to my parents’ disdain. And the blinds were snow white—not the
familiar tannish color. Oh they blocked
out light but not so much for that would happen a lot later.
The worst or the best thing about these new
plastic window blinds was a built-in spring:
If I were to pull it so it would go up, it went up all right. Like fast.
And the worst thing was that if I pulled it up too quickly, the entire blind
would wind round and round the pole on which it was attached. It was then that I had to call my mom or dad
to fix it which to them was a never ending nightmare.
These new blinds didn’t have a silky corded
string or a circle; instead, the bottom of the blind was really thick. That was
good and that was bad. Good if I had to
yank on it to go up and bad because my fingerprints were left on the white
bottom. But oh someone came up with an
invention of a pull which slid over the bottom of the blind and it was also
decorative. Looked good but once again,
not so good for if I pulled on that decorative slide, it would either fall off
or up went the blind as fast as all get out.
By this time I had a love-hate relationship
with window blinds. They smelled, they
still flew up to the top and wound round and round unless I was careful and too
many times they actually broke off from the pole that held them. That was
called disaster. Worse was that if I
pulled too hard and that blind went up too fast, it would also tear right smack
down the side or the middle. Couldn’t
count the times that happened and how many blinds had to be replaced. Too many times it seemed. And this happened in my young adult
years. Could I fix a ripped blind? I
don’t think so. A new one had to be bought and it didn’t last long either.
A newer version of the plastic blind came out;
still snow white but with a white pattern on it. Why you ask? I have no idea.
Certainly didn’t enhance the looks of them at all.
And with this advent of the newer version, what
would I have in my classroom? Why I had the old tan ones that were left over
from the Dark Ages. If the sun were
glaring into the room, I’d pull all of them down—one at a time. And what do you think would happen? Well it
never failed that one of them would roll up as fast as it could and just stay
there while the students and I were blinded.
Oh too many times, the custodian would appear and fix that blind for me;
not only was I grateful but so were my students. The classroom windows were extremely tall and
there were four in the classroom.
Sometimes when the blind went zooming up, I’d stand on a chair and step
over to the built-in cupboard to reach that thing. Never was a fun job ever.
I’ll never forget that on one specific day when
I went to pull up the blinds, that two of them rolled up to the pole and just
sat there. The custodian was not at
school that day. My students and I had to turn our desks away from the windows
but that day was pure torture. Worse was
that it took three days for some men to come from the board’s warehouse to take
down the broken blinds and replace them.
Prior, those three days were sunny and the days were hot.
Oh and
one principal decided that every teacher should make all the blinds in each
classroom the same level so that it would look good from the outside. Do you think that every teacher did that? Of
course not. But if they did, too many
times those blinds went zooming up to the very top of the tall window. I know because that happened to me a
lot. Frustrating to say the least.
When plastic mini-blinds came on the scene, I
think that everyone in town not only got them but yelled a huge yell of
hooray. Well, at least I did. No more smelly smell, no more pull cord or
decorative slide to mess with but what did we get? Strings on the side. Did the strings get tangled up? You bet they
did. But the strings also allowed the
blind to be pulled up to any length. And
attached to the left side was a long stick like piece that dangled down. Its purpose allowed anyone to open the
mini-blinds a little or a lot.
We’ve come a long way with window blinds for
who would want the ones made of material?
They couldn’t be washed and when they got dirty, they were
replaced. At least mini-blinds can be
taken down and put in the bathtub to soak. Drying them is another story in
itself. Oh and with these blinds that almost all of us have, slats do get
broken or bent. My cat has destroyed way too many blinds by climbing through
them at night to peer out. And so what
do I have to do? Why buy replacements of course. But there are two good things
about these blinds: They don’t smell to
high heavens and they don’t roll up to the top of the window!
Window blinds:
Love them or hate them. Have them or discard them.
Sherry Hill
Copyright © 2014
Sherry Hill
All Rights Reserved
