But the little shop around the corner was where my gran and my mother bought their underwear. Miss - let's call her Morgan - would pull out the appropriate drawer from under the counter or from the shelves that lined the wall and display her collection of right-sized knickers, each in their cellophane casing. (Did they have cellophane then? I'm sure I remember it thus.) The choice must have been limited but a visit always resulted in a sale.
The reason for this reminiscence is the glass-fronted display unit I saw on the pavement today. I assume it was being thrown away - and I was so tempted to say, 'I'll have it!' which would have been so silly but jolly good fun.
I must try and find out the name of the shop-keeper. It will annoy me otherwise. I remember Miss Killa from the shoe shop and Kath Eley who ran the local taxi service - her car in other words. And Taylors grocer's on the corner, with its dark wood panelling, open boxes of biscuits and counter service. It later became Masons and eventually self-service. That was where, on her first visit, my Auntie Grace wandered around filing a trolley and then straight out of the door and across to Fortes the ice cream parlour - without paying. The staff watched her and laughed. Everyone knew everyone then.
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| Taylor's on the corner of Dunns Lane |
P.S. The FaceBook group, So you think you know Swansea? turned up trumps again. The shop-keeper was called Peggy Thomas.
7 comments:
Don't mention the hated suspender belts! Thank the Goddess they've gone the way of the dodo bird. Except for kink purposes, of course.
I remember those shops and those cabinets :-)
They were hideous, weren't they, Debra?
Nowadays you sometimes see them in places like charity shops for the knick-knacks, Polly.
You got Ladybird clothes? I would have killed to be you! Instead I had a barage of female relatives who knitted, sewed and 're-purposed' (a greataunt's coat became one for 8 year-old me). The joys of being a child in post-war Britain.
@Debra,
OTOH, I have pleasant memories of my GF of the time prancing
about the apartment, wearing only stockings and a suspender belt :-)
These were special occasion clothes, Sonata. And vests. Liberty bodices - suddenly remembering those too.
The things women do for men, stu!
Interesting, Liz. Your suspender belt must be our garter belt. I recall wearing one when I was 3 years old to hold up my heavy cotton stockings in winter. Not a great garment! I found pantyhose a wonderful advancement, twenty-odd years later. As to shopping for undies: mine always came from the Sears & Roebuck catalog - or from the Sears store. Some of them still do!
SmitoniusAndSonata--I recall our mother wearing Dad's boxer shorts, being unable to buy women's undies during the war. A little tuck here-and-there made them "do". Fortunately, I've never been reduced to that.
Cop Car
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