Rewinding back in time - Memoir Monday

Rewinding to the early 60s, is quite something, a very long walk down memory lane!

What was my favourite store and how did we get to 'town', the term we used for the city centre, way back then?

I was born in Port Elizabeth, a coastal city in the Eastern Cape.

Going to 'town' was an exciting event! Most times it would be the 'ladies' and my youngest uncle - Mom, Ouma, Mom's youngest sister, my favourite uncle, who was our dressmaker, and me. On those occasions, we would go by bus, which made it even more of an adventure. Well, that's how it felt for me.

Greenacres

My favourite was Greenacres which was filled with tempting goods of all kind; one would find anything and everything there, but the best was the smart restaurant in the middle of the store. I felt so grown-up and grand sitting at one of those tables where we would order jam and cream scones with tea or coffee, waffles with syrup and cream plus a double-thick milkshake, or a hearty lunch meal.

When the Christmas holidays were approaching, the whole family would pile into the car to watch the Christmas lights in the main city street; we were five children and I was the only girl. Don't even ask how we managed to get into that car, but they were bigger than today's cars.

Off-topic - Drive-in Theatres

Which reminds me, although totally off-topic, whenever we went to the drive-in theatres, only six were allowed per car; we were seven in total. My youngest brother would lie by our feet, covered in one of the blankets we took with, and once through the gates, he'd come up for air.
Not sure if any of you remember those drive-ins? We would take camp chairs with us and sit outside the car on a hot night, or us older kids could go and find a seat in a designated area for those without cars.

Father Christmas photo shoots

Back to my favourite store, Christmas time meant Father Christmas would be coming to our home on Christmas Eve to bring gifts, but we had to be good kids; very difficult for my four brothers, who all were real rascals!

This funny old man would sit at Greenacres during the day, and we could have our photos taken while sitting on his lap, or on our Mom's lap next to him if we were afraid of this bearded old man. We'd be bursting with excitement to see what was inside those 'lucky packets'.
Remember those colourful 'lucky packet' boxes filled with gifts - all kinds of cheap plastic toys, puzzles, and sweets, but they were a must-have to start the holidays, and have our photo taken with dear old/ funny old, Father Christmas!

We all firmly believed in this generous man who would magically bring gifts on Christmas Eve, and did not even think twice about the fact that he looked different every year at Greenacres!

Mom had a photo of me sitting on Father Christmas's lap, but I hunted high and low, and could not find it. I will add it to this post if it pops up.

This is one of my brothers, a bewildered baby sitting on my aunt's lap. I must say this Father Christmas looks very funny and must have been an odd sight for a little baby!

^{Edited using Canva}

Window Shopping

I could not resist sharing a different kind of exciting 'shopping' experience with you, window shopping!

Dad would drive into 'town' at night, park in the street, and we would walk along the main streets and into the alleys, admiring all the tempting goods so beautifully displayed in the shop windows.

It was a magical make-believe world that our parents took us to; we would each decide on what we would buy if we had all the money in the world. Those outings were good lessons, that we could one day walk into those stores and buy some of the tempting goods if we worked hard enough.

Wonderful memories of carefree childhood days!

I've enjoyed my walk down memory lane, hope to see you join Memoir Monday, an initiative of @ericvancewalton. This is a great way to store long-forgotten memories, where he will ask a question each Monday.

This week's question:

Here’s the very first Memoir Monday question:
What store did you love to go to as a child?

I was a child many moons ago...in age that is, but believe there's still a child in each one of us, so let's bring those memories back and store them here forever with Memoir Monday!

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