Childhood memories…

I read something recently and it certainly rang very true for me and my childhood. I walked to school and back, along with most other children as none of our parents had a car. We took the bus if it was too far to walk, a red route master double decker. The ticket collector would come to your seat and turn the handle on his machine to print a ticket and collect the fare in his bag worn across his body. Upstairs was for smokers, which you avoided at all costs otherwise would get off smelling like an ashtray. Eating out didn’t really happen, except on really special occasions such as my birthday and it would be the Wimpy where Id´ always order a Knickerbocker Glory – layered ice cream sundae with cream and tinned fruit cocktail, served in a tall conical glass. Fast food was fish and chips – pizza was relatively unheard of yet.

Mobile phones didnt´ exist – there was a rotary phone which sat on the telephone table in the hallway, the coldest place in the entire house, next to the front door. It had a cord attached so you couldnt´ move and there certainly wasn’t such a thing as a private conversation. The alternative was the red telephone box that took a big 2 pence coin or you could ring the operator on 100 and ask for a reverse charge call, meaning the other person paid for the call. How the children of today would cope without a mobile just for a day is laughable, especially as they seem to be permanently attached to one, clamped in the hand 24/7. Selfies, Facebook, Twitter didnt´ exist – maybe thats´ a good thing. I wonder what they would make of the Motorola brick phone, with an antenna that you could easily take someone’s eye out with if you werent´ careful! A full charge took around 10 hours which would give about 30 minutes of talk time so you had to carry a spare battery with you, which weighed a ton.

We ate what we were given for dinner or went hungry there was no choice plus it was all freshly made. There was no such thing as microwave or ready prepared meals like there are today. Now in the UK every supermarket has their own extensive worldwide ranges – Chinese, Indian, Thai, Sushi, Italian the choice is literally endless. In addition, there are numerous different apps for ordering takeaway deliveries – Deliveroo, Uber Eats, Glovo – who shockingly even deliver McDonalds and even Marianos´ here! Marianos´ is an institution in Benidorm – open 24/7, well now it is after obviously being closed over the last few months, they even have tables outside on the pavement now. Many will attest to it serving the best chicken and chips available anywhere! It is usually packed at all times, including 5am when hungry clubbers are heading back home after a night of partying, famished.

Here in Spain they certainly dont´ appear so keen on ready prepared meals and there is only a small and not particularly appetizing range in the likes of Mercadona, although they have now introduced ready prepared sections in many of their supermarkets. Now that summer is officially here, supermarkets can open on Sunday right up until the first Sunday after 3 Kings, which will be January 10th next year. I know many find it odd that shops dont´ religiously open on a Sunday like they do in the UK.

Televisions did not have a remote control. You had to physically get up to change the channel and programs finished at midnight, the national anthem was played and the test card would come on until programs resumed in the morning. I remember the test card well, a young girl playing noughts and crosses on a blackboard with a toy clown.

There was no such thing as bottled water – we drank what came out of the tap. The pollution created by the development of selling bottled water is staggering – look anywhere and I guarantee you will see one discarded within 10 meters of where you are standing. Many say that you shouldnt´ drink the tap water here in Spain as “it’s bad”… maybe 40 odd years ago that would have been true. Now there is nothing wrong with it. Holidaymakers complain of upset tummies and that it tastes different but this is probably more to do with the fact that the water ph is different to what they are used to. Also, remember that the salads are washed in tap water and ice cubes made with the same, which they would be eating etc. Asking for tap water in the UK at a restaurant is fairly normal and they cannot charge for it – it is also common in the USA, where the waiter brings a jug of water to the table straight away. However, I must admit I have never seen that here – you ask for aqua and they automatically bring a bottle, obviously charging for it.

Hand me down clothes from older siblings was the norm – what was their Sunday best became your daily outfits. Nowadays, charity shops have maybe taken that place and are found everywhere. Once maybe sniffed at but you can definitely find some real bargains in them. You hear tales on programs such as Antiques Roadshow, that someone bought an item in a charity shop and it turns out to be a piece of valuable Clarice Cliff or Moorcroft pottery worth tens of thousands that they paid a pound for. www.benidormallyearround.com