My Oma had a fireplace, and the coal was delivered once a month, right down the chute into the basement. I hauled the coal bucket many times. The building's hot water boiler was also coal-fired, as were the radiators (steam). It was dirty back then, but today we have 'clean' (kinda) ways of filtering the chimneys.
my wife's grandfather used to fight the niggers as a kid for the coal that fell off the trains in Newark during the depression. Looks like those good old times are coming back.
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