We've Got Mail

We have quite a bag of mail to catch up with so I am going to start with The Corner Shop which is triggering many memories.

E in Melbourne who enjoyed the blog on the corner shops has said:

I was having another look at the corner-shops blog: it is something very Australian to me. I just remembered how we used to buy a half a pound of ‘broken biscuits’ which were put through a chocolate mix and then left in the ice-chest to set.

Can you remember that? It was very yummy! It was a very cheap cake, but also fancy buying broken biscuits. That was one thing I never wrote about to my mother in Holland: she already believed that the kangaroo’s were sitting on our back-steps!

Yes- I can remember the broken biscuit and chocolate mix- Hedgehog we called it. Thank goodness it hasn't demised along with the corner store and the job for paper boys and girls. Thankfully you can still buy Hedgehog or Fudge or whatever they now call it. I might just go out and buy a slice today.

And from Julie in Melbourne:

I worked in a milkbar on a Saturday afternoon, in later high school years, and did everything from slicing ham to making up bags of lollies for children, as you mentioned !! Hilarious! You could get quite a nice bag of mixed lollies for 5 cents, back then!!

In memory of The Corner Store and Broken Biscuits I bring you this delightful and memorable painting-

Julie of Melbourne also reminded me that The Corner Store sold Fireworks!!
Consequently I have begun to research The Art of Fireworks- coming up soon.

And of course we have replaced Fireworks Night with Halloween as Kevin in Sydney reminded me. When we were young the 5th of November was Bonfire Night celebrated, not in memory of Guy Fawkes' attempt to blow up the House of Lords in Britain (as common belief has it) but in fact to celebrate the failure of the attempt. The Observance of 5th November Act was passed in 1606 in recognition that King James 1st had survived.

And now that fireworks have been banned (for very good reasons) we have adopted Halloween. Trevor of Canberra (but at present in Toronto) has sent these family portaits as his contribution to the festivities.

And O, S & E sent in their expertly carved pumpkins.

Finally for Today's Mailbox I've had some interesting emails from several subscribers who inform me that they were paper boys or girls. So in memory of their remarkable contribution to society I bring you the 1970s film The Paper Round. Please persevere as it is well worth watching.