Hasbeen, the reason for ceiling switches with the cord, as was the case
in my parents home, was because the houses were originally equipped
with gas lighting. When electricity was connected, because the houses
were brick and internal walls were single brick it was too difficult
to get the switch wire down into the room at the required height.

So ceiling switches solved all those problems.
Ahh yes my mother used to make my shirts also, no poor Bangladeshis
to clothe us all in those days.
My mother before she married was a seamstress so it was second nature
to her to make shirts and the like.

Imagine, she worked at Grace Bros, now merged into Myers, with a few
hundred other girls.
Don't worry, that industry will return here in some years time.
The Y generation is in for a numbing shock.

The rest of us, if we are still here, will sit back laughing !

Yes, I have often said that many people can afford a house, they just can't afford THE HOUSE and there in lies the problem.