Thursday, July 14, 2011

Strawberries & Cream, Mint Leaves, and a Milk Bottle...

One of my fondest childhood memories is of Sunday mornings when -- after enduring an hour of Sunday school -- we stopped at the corner store on the way home and were given 20c pocket money. I looked forward to this event every week, and much thought was put into the exchange of this high finance.

When I was a child, 20c went a long way to filling a little white paper bag with lollies. And every Sunday, I stood in front of the glass cabinet that displayed rows of brightly coloured confectionery and made my considered choice.

A couple of mint leaves, a banana or two, some milk bottles, jelly babies, snakes and a couple of big ticket' items like those splendid chocolate Cobbers... One by one as I made my choice, the lollies were extracted from the glass bowls and placed into my bag. Once my 20c was gone, we made our way home, our little paper bags clutched within our fingers. I would make my way up to my room and divvy up my rations, gobbling up some of the less cherished pieces and saving my favourites for later...

Later on and as inflation rose our allowance went up to 25c...

Years on, I still linger in the confectionery aisle in the supermarket. I pretend I'm researching for party bags for the kids... but really Im reminiscing and reliving my childhood. Today, amongst my basket of milk, paper towel, mandarins, smoked salmon and toothbrushes... a little packet of Chiccos made its way into the mix.

I tore the packet open before I'd reached the car and gobbled most of them up on the drive home. They cost a little more than 20c but the effect was still the same.


It's the small pleasures, folks. 


5 comments:

  1. Memories!!!! we used to walk down to the service station and I would get Fags (now Fads), disgusting flavoured bubble gum which had a little tattoo in it, nerds, and a peppermint patty... oh yeah!
    Jxx

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yum!

    I live not too far from a shop that sells the huge bags of Allens lollies for $10. Its very dangerous, I try to avoid the place!

    Pineapples are my faves. Followed closely by racing cars :-)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Yes - I loved the umming, aahhing and choosing.
    (And of course, the gobbling!)
    I still see kids doing it at our local newsagency and love the deliberation.
    20c doesn't get them far though!
    :-)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Chicos! Strawberries and Cream! Milk Bottles! Those fake bananas (which sadly were the only form of banana I would eat as a child)! Snakes! Pineapples! I miss childhood :) If only things were still in the 20c range. Thanks for the sweet (no pun intended) post! :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Thanks for that little trip down memory lane, Nic. We used to do the 20c bag of lollies too and a lot of the time we went for half 1c eucalyptus lollies (I still eat these to this day!) and half 2c spearmint leaves or cobblers. Oh, those were fine days, weren't they! x

    ReplyDelete

Hello - oh write me a little note - do! do! Your comments really brighten my day and its nice to know Im not alone out there in cyber space ! x