Remembering A Red Vending Machine

After reading ‘The Vending Machine’ (Then And Now, March), a lovely memory from the 1960s came to mind. We had a grocery shop in the Netherlands with a bright red vending machine near the entrance. It dispensed coloured chewing gum balls for one cent each. Over time, it was out of action more than it worked, because people put all sorts of items into the coin slot, mostly matches. However, I never realised the fame of this particular vending machine until, many years later, I met a man in Australia who was from the same city as me. It turned out

that he had lived in a side street not far from our grocery shop and he remembered the bright red vending machine very well. ELLY VENEMA