After all, if you give love every day you don't have to really think about it just on one day of the year, and buy something for someone, so in the long run it works out to being a lot cheaper.
Also, giving love seems to somehow fill spaces in your heart so somehow you just feel better about life in general.
Funny how one thing leads to another. Just a word, and suddenly you can be transported back to another time, another place in your memory bank.
The joy of candy...
There was a little building right opposite my elementary school in the little Zululand village where I grew up. It was our holy grail of shopping, and I smile as I think about it. It was the school tuck shop. In plain speak, its main function was to satisfy the candy appetites of an entire school, plus any of the hundreds of ordinary citizens who frequented the area. Talk about location! It was also near the only telephone booth (aka the call box) in the area, and opposite the police station.
Mrs. Amery owned the little place. Of course I never looked it from her perspective, but from mine as a child. Children are very focused on facial details. Her face wasn't very friendly. She had permed, blue-white sort of hair, a hooked nose, and sharp blue eyes behind her glasses. Her glasses were on some kind of cord, so she could whip them on and off at will, according to what she needed to see. I was fascinated by her unsmiling, tight lips and her quick movements.
Apparently she needed to keep an eye on lots of different things. Candies are very tempting. . .
The detail of candies/sweets/chocolates!
Mrs. Amery had shelves and shelves of candies/sweets in her shop. I can see them clearly in my mind's eye now. My life goal was to taste every single one. There must have been well over 100 different varieties.
They were mostly contained in beautiful big glass jars - row upon row of them. You could either get two or four for a penny/cent in those days. My favourites were definitely the beehive, which was financially usually out of my reach, costing a tickey, or three cents EACH, and a peppermint crisp, which cost the same, but was actually better value, because it was bigger. I also loved the Flake, comprised of milk chocolate that somehow could be flaked off in smooth pieces. It was so delectable I used to even lick the paper wrapper, just to keep the taste going.
The beehive was shaped like a traditional one. When you bit through the rich milk chocolate your teeth and taste buds met up with a deliciously flavoured white soft marshmallow. Once you'd sucked that off you were down to a maraschino cherry surrounded by syrupy cherry jelly. There was still another thick piece of milk chocolate below that, and it was enough for 3 economical bites. If you were professional you could actually carefully melt them in your mouth one by one. Then it was good value.
The peppermint crisp was another masterpiece. It had a red white and blue shiny foil covering that was absolutely beautiful, and indicated there was something luxurious and rich inside. It consisted of a lovely chocolate coating with crisp shards of green peppermint inside that exploded on contact with your teeth. It had to be the ultimate.
You could get two nutticrunch toffees for a penny. They were bigger, that's why. Most of the time though because of financial restrictions, our selection was limited to 4 for a penny items. There were the sour sherbets in little tubes. There were liquorice pipes and allsorts. Toffees and fruit gums were very popular, because of their lasting characteristics. Who could ever forget the powerful XXX mints? They were enough to take your head off! Some misguided manufacturer even produced packs of sugar sticks with a red blob on the end so we could pretend we were smoking! Our parents didn't even bat an eye.
I could go on and on, but you get the idea.
The shopkeeper's peril. . .
You know, Valentine's Day suddenly seems like a good idea. Maybe every day should be Valentine's Day, sharing love wherever it seems most appropriate. Just not eating too much chocolate.
. . . and the sweet success of modern technology
A friend sent me this. For some of you it will evoke memories. For all of you, it might give you a chuckle as you consider how fleeting modern inventions truly are!
Happy Valentine's Day!
Thank you for the visit, wishing you a wonderful weekend and ...
Vicki