I've begun to read a novel set in New England. The story teller moves into an old house out in the country. He goes shopping. Is surprised to find an A&P store. What's an A&P store? I ask myself. Google comes to my aid.
The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company.
And my mind goes back to my elementary schooldays in the late 1930s. The Home and Colonial Stores. Just up Chapel Street. On London's Edgware Road. Next door to the Grand Kinema. Next door to Jolly's little shop.
Sometimes I'd be sent shopping. I could get a dozen eggs for 11 pence. Butter would be cut to size and so expertly neatly wrapped at the counter. The man with the moist sugar made a paper cone. Poured the sweet white grains into it. Sealed it up. Handed it over as I paid my coin.
All gone now. All knocked down and swept away when they built the Expressway.
Memories are such treasures.
fc oxon 2017 august 17
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