If I only had tuppence ha’penny I would only be given two and a half cigarettes.
I started going to the shops when I was about seven years old. One shop I went to was called Hardy’s, a shop in a house on Hedley Street, where I used to get dad’s cigarettes, 5d for 5, and if I only had tuppence ha’penny I would only be given two and a half cigarettes.
There was another shop called Duncan’s cash which was a posh shop. Why was this, because, they were more expensive and a lot better quality. The street behind was called the Crescent.
The shops usually opened at 6 o clock, closing at 8. 30pm. I liked the baker’s because it sold lucky bags. My mother used to have tick at the baker’s, which sold everything. One day my mother sent me for some sugar and I said NO until my mother went in and paid her bill. I will always remember that because I was so embarrassed.
If mam had 3d left over on a Saturday, she would go to the butcher to buy three pennyworth of pieces of meat. If only tuppence, she would purchase corned beef. The biggest treat of all was when she would buy a tin of pineapple.
When my father got his first job after two years of marriage and when he gave mother his wage packet she just looked and said: “what am I going to do with all this money”.