We still can't take to the self-service shopping tills at the Tesco store in Brigg - and every time we go in there's a vague hope that they might have been removed since our last visit.
You don't have to use them if you don't want to - there are plenty of staffed tills nearby. But somehow it seems to be a step in the wrong retailing direction.
Contrast this with a visit to some of the small shops in Brigg where they help you find what you want, take your money and even wrap your purchases. Service with a smile, which you can't expect from a mechanised check-out. It's a matter of choice. And huge retailers like Tesco clearly know their business, as they turn over huge sums.
But is it really the Brigg way?
.....it's progress, I suppose....I'm of an age and can remember when sugar was rationed...and the grocer scooped it from a large sack and then wrapped it in a neat package of blue sugar paper....I can remember bus conductors.....and when 'self-service' and Wimpy Bars hit the high street in the 1950's....trams and trolley-buses....when salt in crisp packets was wrapped in blue paper...and all crisps were 'Smiths'....the chewing gum machines outside shops....the blue milk dispensing machines - put 6d in and out came a cartoon of milk, or a milk-shake..screw-top lemonade bottles, on which one could claim your 2d deposit back on return of empty bottle...similarly, jam jars - halfpenny for a 1lb jar and a 1d for a 2lb jar from the local jam factory ..when bacon was sliced to order on a slicing machine....cars with running boards and starting handles....steam trains...and non-corridor carriages....when coal and bread was delivered by horse-drawn carts...and little old ladies rushing out with a coal shovel to scoop up any horse droppings for their roses...Radio Luxemburg - Radio Caroline...the 'Six Five Special' (before Top of the Pops....when Liverpool FC was in the old 2nd Division....back boilers...gas lamps in houses..mantles...cobbled streets..when footballs became so heavy when wet, they were like kicking a cannon ball..football bladders....short trousers and knobbly knees...underpants that had a tendency to hang below the legs of short trousers! Turn-ups on long trousers..school satchels...ink-wells in desks, blotting paper, inky fingers and blots...class ink monitors..black wellies...chips sold in old newspaper....when neighbours came round to borrow a bowl of sugar/flour/milk.....when Birds Eye frozen fish fingers first hit the market...and watching the launch of ITV and the first tv ad of Gibbs SR toothpaste in a block of ice....all on a black and white 14" Bush telly.....and I can even remember when TV broadcasts had set times - 2pm to 2.15pm - Watch With Mother' ...on again at 5pm - Children's Hours'...and off at about 10.30pm - closing with an Epilogue and the National Anthem.....Yes, those were the days...none of this modern stuff....!!!
ReplyDelete...and not forgetting the old road signs on black & white poles...school caps...marbles...cap-guns..clockwork robot toys...Players No 6, Cadets and Woodies....Babysham glasses...duffle coats...duffle bags...the Beatle era..black polo-necked shirts...string ties..Teddy boys...crepe-soled shoes, drainpipes....quiffs....girls doing handstands against a wall, tucking their dress into their heavy-duty, navy blue knickers...hop-scotch...ice-cream venders on trikes with cooling boxes of dry ice....towelling nappies....enormous prams....Roy Rogers....Mr Pastry....Charlie Drake....Cinema commissioners in uniform.....the power strikes of the 70's.... National Service...pill-box hats of the Boys Brigade...bell-tents...Primus stoves...tea-cosies...ladies' nylons with seams.....lashings of talcum powder...dolly tubs and bluies....stone for whitening front-door steps....British-made motor-bikes...sidecars....basket-woven, bath-shaped and motorised invalid carriages.....bomb-sites...train-spotting...21st birthday parties....regular massive helpings of butter beans for school dinners....syrup pudding & custard.....school milk...flying saucers - 4 for a 1d - or a farthing each...The Beezer...Dandy, Beano. the Victor and the Eagle......collecting bubble-gum football cards.....swapping comics, such as Superman.....Yuri Gagarin....pea and potato picking for tallies...Postman's Knock.....'O'-levels....and blue lamps outside police stations.........all such things from my misspent youth..
ReplyDeleteSome great memories there, Ken. I bet the older Brigg Blog followers appreciated those. Happy New Year.
ReplyDelete