h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Shopping was done almost every day, to all the separate shops - greengrocer, butcher, haberdashers, grocery.

I remember going with my Mum to our local Sainsbury's - the big 'all-in-one food shop! The floor was black & white diamond tiles and there were different counters for dairy, meat, groceries and so on.

My Mum ran a local grocers shop. I remember bread being delivered by a horse-drawn cart, about 1959.

The local 'big' shop was the CoOp, and they used to send the money up in the compressed air tubes. Biscuits were sold from big tins with glass lids, we always used to kick the tin, so there'd be more in the broken biscuit tin.

Crisps were also sold from a sealed tin, our local brand was Robinsons.

I remember the men coming out of the Dunlop, just opposite the shop at lunchtime and buying sandwiches, hundreds of men, sitting on the grass in the park, or kicking a ball around.

Don't know if it fits because I can't remember the year, but I remember crowds of people in our back room watching Princess Margret get married, everyone crowded round this massive box with a tiny little tube in the front, and a flickering black and white picture.

I remember those tubes used in the Co-op - they were called Lampsons - certain supermarket chains have actually started using them again now.


I remember them because my very first job was in the Co-op and we used the machines on a daily basis.

Next bit probably totally boring but I put it in just in case!

A quotation from the Lamson Engineering Co. Ltd. of 1952 for Walter Cobb Ltd. of Sydenham gives some interesting details and prices. The existing system of 9 stations was to be extended to 12 with 4 resited, and to incorporate a new Lamson Power Plant consisting of a 1005 three-stage Turbine with 6 HP motor capable of handling a further 4 stations. The central Gravity type desk would be on the second floor. The annual rental price would be £17.17.00 per station for a new 10-year agreement. A later quotation of May 1953 was for 14 stations in total with a 7.5 HP motor and cash desk equipped with Mark V control. The cost to supply and carry out additions and alterations was £1750 or 10 years leasing at £19.19.00 per station.

Happy writing.

Scorpio

61722, I'll repeat that, 61722

Isn't it strange the things that get lodged in your brain for years.
The number was our Co-op dividend number. Everytime you made a purchase you be asked for your 'divi' number which would then be written on a small paper ticket (from a book with carbon paper to give the shop a record). When you'd collected a suitable amount of tickets you could go to a big Co-op centre (B'ham City centre for my family) and get a cash refund. It was a similar idea to, but before those Green Shield gummed trading stamps.

Milk was delivered on a horse drawn cart and sometimes Great Grandad would go out into the street and collect it with a shovel to put on the garden.

He'd collect the horse droppings not the milk!

26231 - Morning Lapi, yes I remember divi numbers. When I was very small, our milk was also delivered by horse and cart. I used to call the milkman Jerry and it was years before I learned that was actually the name of the horse.

Hello Scorpio, when I was a sprog, I had a part time job at the local Co-op; 3 nights a week (well just the last hour) and all day Saturday. I worked for the man on the butchery counter and I'll tell you those tickets were a real pain to sweep up especially if the floor near the butchery counter had trodden in fat waiting for me to clean up!

Yeah! the carbon didn't do much for the white overalls either.

And pop (fizzy drinks like lemonade) used to be delivered on a lorry. Ginger beer used to come in stone jars with a sprung stopper.

Wasn't there a small amount paid back for every empty bottle returned?

Yes, either a penny or twopence. I think it was twopence - and of course enterprising children would try to collect bottles and return them and get the deposit.

I remember some extremely enterprising children near our local off-licence, who used to pinch the bottles from the crates out the back and then take them back into the shop for the deposits. and no, I wasn't one of them.

Our bread was delivered by a man drawing a sort of Sedan Chair on wheels.
A friend of one of my aunt's held a lot of parties and would call me in to take the empties back. They had to be seperated according to the pub or off licence which had sold the bottles, the lables used to be stamped by the pubs. I got a penny for every pint or half pint bottle and tuppence for a quart bottle.
We also used to pay a deposit on jam jars. One time when my aunt was living with us she and my mum had no money one Thursday and three kids to feed. So they scraped together six jam jars and my aunt took them to the local Co-Op. Bad choice because they wouldn't give her the sixpence. enough for a loaf of bread at fourpence ha'penny. The offered goods instead. With rationing in full force the only thing she could get was a pack of OXO cubes. So we had OXO cubes in hot water for dinner.
My mum's Divi Number was 331093, Thirty Three, Ten, Ninety Three. Aid for Russia was 7.
Sowf of the river the Royal Arsenal Co-Op issued tokens which had to be counted and bagged every three or four months. I used to do this for one of my aunt's and was paid sixpence for the job.
There are some memories of Rathbone Street Market in Canning Town and how we shopped posted on the site devoted to my old school, Saint Margaret's RC Primary on:- http://tomtids.proboards92.com/

I was interested to see sums like £19-19-00 etc in your report. In other words the bills were being written in guineas. As I recall guineas were mainly used to price luxury goods such fur coats, jewelry, Saville Row suits or those aspiring to be such, pricey doctors etc. I was not aware that they were used to bill such mundane items as vacuum cash systems--although the latter have had a strong rebirth. I see now that the guinea pricing is for annual rental while the outright purchase price is in pounds. Clearly the rental price is a service hence 'professional' charge so guineas are appropriate, while the outright purchase is in commercial terms, i.e. pounds. I think this subtle difference tells us a lot about those times.

I, too, remember the divi - a sure bet was that a few sweets would be forthcoming around divi time!

Aongside the milkman and his horse there were quite a few enterprising travelling 'shops' - especially in the rural area of Derby where I lived. We had the fishman with his icebox towed behind his moped, the greengrocer with his van and, best of all for us kids, the ice-cream man on a bike with a little freezebox towed behind.

We were mostly sent out with a pint bowl to buy ice-cream for tea - with pompidour fan wafers as an added treat - but, on rare occasions, could actually buy a wafer or cone. If we happened to be visiting my gran in Birmingham then this would accompany the jelly which had been placed in a bowl to set in the zinc bath overnight - she didn't have a fridge...

The appearance of the soft ice-cream dispenser (around the late 1950's for me when the bike was obviously traded in for a van) led to the copious purchases of 99's, rockets, mini milks and strawberry mivvis.

Every so often we would make the trek into Derby town and visit the Fishmarket. I can still hear the loudspeakers relaying Elvis hits... my first introduction to rock music.

shazz

Records were played on The Streogram, a huge piece of furniture - more than a yard long, with speakers at each end, a radio dialler and a turntable - there would usually be a compartment for storing LP's as well.

I remember my sister's 78s - Rosemary Clooney, Where will the baby's dimple be ? and my Dad's Sinatra LPs - oh and something called Swinging Safari.