I was given $4 HK. Half was put into my bank account, and I was free to do as I wished with the rest. It would have amounted to 2/6d in old money, 12 1/2 new pence...but then I am going back 50+ years!
I had to put some money aside for my weekly Bunty comic, but the remainder was almost invariably spent in a small, local, Chinese shop.
Most of my purchases would be stationery, pens, pencils, erasers, pencil sharpeners, crayons.
The stationery gave me countless hours of fun as I filled notebooks with stories. I was determined to be the next Enid Blyton... this was shortly before I just knew I was going to be the next Pat Smythe (a showjumper) ... which was followed by the period when I decided that I really needed to combine the two. I would write equestrian stories, like the Pullein-Thompson sisters.
Occasionally I was tempted away from stationery and bought little china figures, cats, or horses.
They cost very little - or I wouldn't have been buying them.
I would have one final purchase to make. During the season I would buy a mango. Then, with the aid of my fingernails, I'd peel the soft, yellow skin back and bite into the sweet, juicy flesh. I have no doubt that I must have ended up as a sticky mess.
Recently my aunt decided to throw away a lot of clutter and was about to discard this little fellow.
I had to intervene, and offer him a home. I couldn't bear to let him go to the charity shop. After all, I can practically remember purchasing him all those years ago. He brought back lots of hidden memories.
These days I still love buying new stationery and I still love eating mangoes.
However, I think the last china figure I bought was this chap.
I don't plan to buy any others.
A little man
ReplyDeletea huge mass of memories
Hello John, Isn't it funny the things which trigger memories!
DeleteHello Elaine:
ReplyDeleteBunty, gosh that really does bring back memories. we seem to recall the cut out clothes on the back cover!!!
Oh, the days of pocket money and saving to buy little 'treasures', in our cases often to be found in Woolworths!!!
The small china figure contains too many precious memories to be consigned to the charity shop. Just a look surely brings a smile to your face!
Hello Jane and Lance, I still have my Bunty badge (awarded for sending them a letter) the scarf was lost years ago. How clever of you to remember the cut-out clothes on the back of Bunty, I had quite forgotten about them. They were great fun, as was Woolworths, in those days. Difficult to believe it was all so long ago.
DeleteHello Elaine....this is the very reason I have difficulty in discarding anything. I will pick it up, and the memories step in. I don't blame you for saving him. He is precious. Like you say, you probably wouldn't buy one today..... but yesterday was another time.
ReplyDeleteHello Meggie, It is difficult, some days I am able to be tough and unsentimental, but then there are times when I know I would be unable to de-clutter. I still have several boxes of my mother's things which I have to sort through, I have been procrastinating for far too many years!
DeleteMy house is full of little bits and pieces with big memories attached. I can completely understand why you wouldn't want to get rid of him! Jx
ReplyDeleteHello Jan, When we down-sized I got rid of lots of 'stuff', or so I thought - I am constantly amazed at the things which I did keep. They are tat! However, they come with lovely memories, and you are right, those are what I am hanging on to.
DeleteHe's a cutie. I would keep him too.
ReplyDeleteHello Amy, He is pretty small - and yes, I agree, he is cute. He isn't showing his age at all - one benefit of having been packed away in a box by my aunt - probably about 50 years ago!!
DeleteI love the little things I keep, not because of the value but because of the memories. They keep me warm and happy.
ReplyDeleteHello Pauline - and Welcome! He is such a little thing, but there is a whole string of memories attached to him...some things which I had completely forgotten about until I saw him. He has earned his place on a shelf.
DeleteHow sweet that you're keeping the little figurine solely for nostalgic reasons. I like to call that, "Keeping my past tucked in around me." Those little things we treasure as children tell us who we are. Unfortunately, I have no such reminders from when I was that age. I got 25 cents allowance every Saturday. That would buy a 10 cent comic book and 15 cent movie at the theater. But, I have fond memories of those Saturdays!
ReplyDeleteHello Ms Sparrow, The great thing is that you have your memories. George used to go to the cinema every Saturday and he remembers it all so fondly and so well. His knowledge of old films is very impressive! He doesn't have a single thing from his childhood, just a very few photographs, whereas I came to marriage with far too much baggage!
DeleteYou must have been the world's only small child that didn't head straight for the sweet shop. Personally I did buy The Eagle, but all the rest went on flying saucers, sherbet fountains, etc.
ReplyDeleteHello Cro, The little shop which I frequented was an Aladdin's cave of goods, even cold drinks, but it didn't sell sweets. When we eventually came back to UK we travelled on the Oriana and I spent a lot of time, and money, in the sweet section of the on-board shop - a result of 3 years of deprivation!
DeleteIs that dear little man in the bottom of a cup to appear after you drink the cocoa? I'm not quite tuned in to how you photographed him.
ReplyDeleteHello Joanne, I perched him in the bottom of a cup simply so that I could photograph him without too much shine. I was just playing about. I like the cocoa idea though!
DeleteYou have brought back memories of my childhood with my weekly allowance and how I planned to spend it. I love the little man--what a precious memory for you. XOXO
ReplyDeleteHello Susan, The memories he evokes are precious things. I am so often amazed at how something so insignificant can be the key to opening the floodgates of memory. I wonder what you did with your weekly allowance!
Delete