Before we get into this soon to be wonderful presentation of an old memory, I would like to comment on the Texas weather. Thursday it was 90 degrees and I complained about the heat. Friday morning it was 48 degrees and I complained about the cold. Thursday the air conditioner was on and Friday the furnace was on!
Now let us get to the essence of this commentary.
I was standing in the kitchen with nothing to do, it was too cold outside to do anything, but maybe it would not have been so bad outside if the wind was not blowing at hurricane strength. Standing there all alone, as my wife had just left me, for some reason my senior brain began to function. Now in truth, my brain had actually functioned a couple times this morning, so this was more or less a restart.
For some reason, I harkened back to a time when I was 10 or 11 years old. We lived out in the country at the bottom of snake hill. Why do you think it was called snake hill? You are correct, it was name snake hill by the locals due to the unusually large rattle snake population, or maybe it was due to the fact that there were at least 3 big curves on this hill before you got to the top. You pick which reason you think is correct.
From our home to Charlie Langston’s home, was about three quarters of a mile. The Langston’s lived on the other side of Juden Creek, by that I mean you had to cross a low water crossing to get to their home. There wasn’t any grocery stores within a couple miles of the Langston’s home. I would ride my bike down to Charlie’s home and we would goof around sometimes playing in the woods, other times in the barn, or just messing around in the yard.
I remember one day we wanted a soda but there was none at the Langston’s home. Charlie’s mother gave us some change and we went to a paint store that was located fairly close to our home near snake hill. We walked from the Langston’s home down their gravel driveway to the creek. We walked along the paved road for over a half mile. We crossed the bridge at the creek, passed the small building that housed the mattress company, and arrived at the paint store. The paint store was the front of the owner’s house. We purchased two bottles of soda. We had to drink them there, as we did not have enough money to pay the deposit for the bottles. We then walked back to Charlie’s house.
My points are, kids were allowed to do a lot of things in the olden days, without an adult being near, and small stores were often the front of someone’s house.
If you just happened to be as old as this senior person is, you most likely remember the neighborhood stores. These small stores would be attached to the owner’s home. These neighborhood stores were basically every few blocks. They had the basics available. Heck, I had an uncle who had one of these stores. I doubt that they made very much money, but I guess they sold enough to stay in business.
When we lived in Smelter Ville there were two neighborhood stores at the end of our street. Yes there were larger stores in town, but they were not close to anyone home, and people could shop both either type store, depending on their need. If they need one or two items, they could go to the neighborhood store. If they need groceries for the week, they go to the larger store. Shopping centers and huge grocery stores that had a little bit of everything and advertised better prices, put these smaller stores and neighborhood stores out of business.
I have to go three blocks away from the homestead, to get to a grocery store today, donut shop is two blocks away.
Yes, seniors have a difficult life!
Senior retired non shopper; Don Ford
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