Somehow, modern tills lack the romance of the old days.

I have to confess, Monique that I was one of those unfortunates who had to run out to collect the steaming piles of horse-dump. My mother was a fanatical rose grower, so that became my job!

She also had a thing about the tits and the milk caps. She used to leave out empty tin cans for the milkman to place over the bottles. God help him if he didn’t!!

Monique – Maybe the founder of the dairy fought in the battle of Tel-el-Kebir. Just guessing, but I’m intrigued now.

I’m pining for the foil capped milk bottles now. We used to fight for the cream at the top. The homogenisation process took the fun out of milk.

Our shops were Hyland’s, long gone, a dark old-fashioned grocery store with those big glass jars of sticky sweets like bulls eyes etc, and – i think – sawdust on the floor. The Midway tobacconist/sweet-shop is still there, now modernised and extended back – neighbours used to play bridge there in the back room. Meany’s at the top of the avenue, also gone now, was for the weekly trip to buy the Beano, Bunty and Judy or Dandy comics.

A Johnston Mooney and O’Brien bread van came around, and the women bought fresh loaves from the back of the van. Favourites were the Vienna roll (a fat baguette!) and the batch loaf, or white soda bread (great with Marmite – but in those days it was Gye – Guinness extract!).

In a shed in a laneway opposite the Martello Tower (all those sheds are now bijou dwellings!) Mr. Grehan sold fruit and vegetables. The tower itself (now i believe being turned into a museum or heritage centre) became an ice-cream shop in summer, selling gorgeous orange ice-pops that we young girls allowed to leave stains on our lips. Orange lipstick was fashionable then! (Ugh!!)

Blackrock was still a real village, with each small shop-keeper taking the time to chat. Most ran “slates” for the regulars, who would shop daily and pay at the end of the week. Findlater’s was the big grocery shop there, with its variety of different teas – loose tea-leaves bought by the quarter-pound, and special rashers. And of course all the ingredients for the Christmas cake and puddings…. Nothing but home-made ones in those days!

What i miss most of all is people having TIME. Time to chat and exchange jokes. Time to shop and not mind waiting in line while Mrs. Brown changes her mind three times about which ham she will have. Time to cook properly often rather than occasionally, and fill the house with wonderful mouth-watering smells instead of sticking something into a micro-wave.

Some of our continental neighbours have not lost the art of living (of which choosing, cooking and slowly enjoying food in the company of friends is a huge part), despite the fast pace of life. For all our lattes and mochas and sundried tomatoes and the rest of it, we are only aping bits of it. As thepillionpassenger has noted, you can get fresh food and human service in Spain. You can also get it in France and in Italy. What’s the difference between them and us? They inter-act with each other, they don’t eat their dinner in front of the telly, and they don’t have a pub culture. Food is the corner-stone of their everyday social life.
(Sorry about length of post – start me reminiscing and i do go on!)

still, you can get fresh food and human service in spain.