NOW ITS LIKE LOOKING THROUGH A WINDOW
by Mary Morgan
Chapter 1 page 5
On reaching the top of Victoria Street I would come to the brow of the
hill at the bottom of Queen's Square and it became harder to push the
trolley by then. I remember often having my arms outstretched in front
of me with my head down between them, gripping the handle, looking at
the road and the edge of the pavement, only looking up now and again to
see if my way was clear. There weren't many cars around in those days,
but I have knocked over many a bicycle and had my ears clipped for not
looking where I was going. Next I would pass the Army & Navy Stores and
Woolworths in Worcester Street, then the Star & Garter Hotel in Victoria
Street, opposite Beatties. I used to promise myself I would go in and
have a look around that hotel one day. It was such a lovely "olde worlde"
place, but they knocked it all down and built the Mander Centre before I
could get around to it!
 |
This old photo was taken a bit later than the time I am talking
about but it is very much the same. Beatties is on the right and the
old Star and Grater on the left. |
After pushing the trolley over the top of Darlington Street and on to
The Town Hall pub in North Street, the going got easier. I would then be
at the favourite part of my daily journey - the Retail Market. Pushing
the trolley through there every morning was like entering another world
- busy, noisy and full of lovely sights and smells. The doorway I
entered - behind the back door of the Hippodrome theatre where we kids
were treated to a "night up the Gods" every Monday night - led to the
aisle with the cheese and butter stalls in. Huge squares of butter the
size of a television screen would be packed in ice, with chunks cut off,
weighed and wrapped in greaseproof paper ready for the day's customers.
The same with the cheese, but these came in "rounds" the size of a large
bucket. Each "round" would be wrapped in soft muslin, dampened to keep
the cheese from drying out - after chunks similar to huge slices of
wedding cake - were cut off and wrapped up.
| This is the Market Square. The wholesale market is on the left and
the retail market is on the right. In front are the gardens of St.
Peter's. |
 |
In the next isle I would come to Knights Flower Stall. I would stop,
smell and gaze longingly at the lovely flowers - all in green cone
shaped metal vases. Sometimes I would hang around and watch Mrs Knight
twist the wire and moss into shapes to make either a beautiful wedding
bouquet or a sad but lovely cross or heart-shaped wreath for some
funeral. She was a plump jolly woman and swore as good as any man. You
could hear her above all the noise in the market. Her laugh was
something else. Once she started nobody was immune because you ended up
laughing at her laughing! She could always cheer me up.
Next call was the sweet stall and the couple who had their own sweet
factory owned this.
They were a very softly spoken couple and I never knew them to say a
cross word to anyone in all the years I knew them. Most of all they
nearly adopted me! True! They never had any children of their own and
every morning they would seem to be waiting for me. They would give me
all sorts of goodies in little pointed paper bags. They would stop
preparing their display and ask me how I was and, thinking about it now,
a lot of personal questions that I didn't think about at the time. I
liked them, but as I was fast becoming very streetwise I could never
really trust them. But this was all explained when one day I heard my
mom having a blazing row in the shop with some man who looked important.
Apparently this couple had been to the Welfare Department and reported
my parents for neglecting me and had applied to adopt me! Not only that,
the Welfare had had a report from the school nurse that I was very thin
and needed more nourishment in my diet. Well, I can understand my mother
being upset now, but at that time I couldn't understand why these people
had caused so much trouble in my life. I certainly wasn't undernourished
- we ate better than any family I knew, and I was always full of energy
and as fit as a fiddle. I kept away from the sweet stall after that.
