My grandfather had a darkroom in his basement where he taught me to develop B/W film and make prints. I have no doubt that he would have leapt at this as a mean

My grandfather had a darkroom in his basement where he taught me to develop B/W film and make prints. I have no doubt that he would have leapt at this as a means to cut down his costs (part of our Bohemian heritage—the stereotype, which lived up to reality in my experience, being that our people are rather, um, thrifty). He had already eschewed stop bath for diluted white vinegar. Having access to a darkroom outside of school was a remarkably handy thing back then.