Not really sure what a mobile phone as to do with it either. Are you suggesting that's all that's sold in the town centre? Very true. I don't his point though, he seems to depart from the topic and descend into rambling nostalgia for much worse times.
I was replying to Lovejoy's post and you will note that I made no reference to the old days being better merely that shopping was more enjoyable. Shopping then was like todays friends united. I did in fact go to some lengths to point out that the opposite was true if you care to re-read the post. It is a bit difficult to read as the first photograph has stretched the boxes
I would image people liked the social side of shopping back then. People had routines and would meet to gossip. The act of shopping back then was a lot harder and I imagine more frequent.
I would image people liked the social side of shopping back then. People had routines and would meet to gossip. The act of shopping back then was a lot harder back then and I imagine more frequent.
I don't think the shopping was harder, just different. I rarely go shopping, but recently did do a couple of trips into Sainsbury with a carefully crafted list from Mrs B. On the list was 'paper towels'. I was staggered that there was a whole aisle dedicated almost 100 per cent to just this one product. In the 50's early 60's, packaged pre prepared meals were unheard of so it was basic ingredients, flour, sugar, marg, eggs etc. and all the packaging and cardboard which now goes to recycling didn't exist so the shopping nearly always fitted into a single basket which went on the bus or was carried home from one of the dozens of local shops rather than the trolley load in the boot of the car. The start of the change was the introduction of freezers in the late 60's. Bulk cooking and freezing down led to the big guys, who were not so big then, doing it for us and there we are, buying so much stuff we have to recycle containers every couple of weeks and fill a huge bin every week.
My parents lived in those days in the South end of Newbury and there were three grocers, two butchers, one greengrocer a chemist, two newsagents, a bakers, a tobacconist, two churches, a registry office, an undertaker and six pubs within a five minute walk from their house. No need for a car and they were on personal terms with the shopkeepers.
I think your description of how things were, perhaps, is a description of what should be - if we are to acknowledge the apparent ecological damage man is currently undertaking.
I think your description of how things were, perhaps, is a description of what should be - if we are to acknowledge the apparent ecological damage man is currently undertaking.
You can't go back I'm afraid and I'm not sure I would want to. Can you imagine today, a couple getting married (or becoming partners as is the trend), starting their partnership without a fridge/freezer,a microwave, a washing machine, a tumble dryer and possibly a dish washer and of course, carpets throughout. The best we could hope for was a cooker or stove as it was called in those days. Living in a packing case on the common with floorco offcuts of lino on the floor, sheer luxury.
Living in a packing case on the common with Floorco offcuts of lino on the floor, sheer luxury.
This last was said more or less tongue in cheek, but, there was in fact a little encampment of families from Newbury area who salvaged a few of the glider packing cases discarded by the Yanks and with a bit of effort, turned them into homes that they lived in on Greenham Common for a couple of years after the war. There were also some old Nissen huts, again discarded by the Yanks. which served as homes to enterprising citizens. Jobs and money were a bit scarce in those days and the council housing waiting list was a mile long.
By the way, I use the term Yanks in the nicest sense as that was a friendly nickname used by everybody. We were known as Limeys.
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