Memories Of My Nan: Saturday Shopping

“My Nan is a big part of the treasured memories I hold“. Finding Susan

I was enjoying my Saturday morning coffee whilst people watching, when I spotted a young girl happily skipping along chatting to her grandmother, and it brought back memories. It gave me the perfect opportunity to write about and introduce my beloved Nan, Nellie’, my role model, and the only positive thing that came from my adoption.

My Nan

Nan’s felt like home, somewhere I was loved and protected. She sowed the seeds to help me survive life and taught me so many things that I have passed down to my children. She always told me to stand up and fight, that I was beautiful but sadly the world would be at times ugly and cruel She’d say I was her angel and one day I’d regain my wings, and I will always be eternally grateful to have had her love and kindness.

My Nan survived two world wars, a child in the first and a wife during the second. She was a mother to six children, three sons and three daughters, with my adoptive mother being her third child. She’d left her husband when in her forties for a younger man she fell in love with. This was not ‘the done thing’ in her day, so I rate her for following her heart, and defying social norms. Although never married, they stayed together until she died in her eighties, with him passing a couple of years later.

Although my Nan was white, she didn’t see colour, hated racism, and spoke her mind and was a font of wisdom. She was very stylish with a classic look, her hair was always done, and the only makeup she wore was a little face powder along with lipstick. She was an amazing cook with her roast beef dinners being my favorite and made the most delicious cakes, and bread. She was my fairy godmother, the light in the darkness of my childhood, she taught me so much and played a role in who I am today. I spent most weekends at my nans, on Fridays I would go straight from school to hers, where an escape from my adoptive parents awaited. In her home nothing bad ever happened, allowing me the freedom to just be a child, knowing I was safe and loved.

Saturday Mornings

Saturday mornings at my nans started early with a beautiful dawn chorus and the call of wood pigeons from the nearby trees. Then the sound of the milkman’s float humming as it drove into the cul-de-sac, glass bottles tinkling, and the sound of crates being loaded off and on. This was followed by the gurgling and spluttering of the teas-made and the ringing of the alarm clock shortly after.

I would get up to a breakfast of toast and scrambled eggs with orange juice,  the kitchen a hive of activity as my nan bustled about . She’d been baking, filling the flat with delicious mouthwatering aromas of freshly baked bread, ginger, lemon, caraway seed, vanilla from sponges or nutmeg, and cinnamon spices dependent on the cake. When it was cooked and out of the oven to cool, she would always give me a sneaky warm piece, and it would taste so good.

Time To Go Shopping

When it was time to go shopping, my nan would grab her wicker shopping trolley, and I’d have my small basket. I loved nothing more than walking along holding her hand as it always felt warm and safe. To get to the shops there were two routes to take, either through the church yard or residential way. I enjoyed the later as there was a mix of house styles built over different eras, lined with beautiful gardens and window boxes and many of the houses were very grand, so I would wonder who in the past may have lived there. This way brought about talks of gardening and flowers with my nan telling me their names. It how ever often involved frequent stops when my nan would bump into a friend or neighbour. I didn’t mind as I would listen to their conversations or find something of interest to amuse me whilst I waited. Sometimes they would give me money to buy sweets, with my nan I felt seen, accepted and was treated kindly by people around her.

It was the walk through the church yard that was my favourite way, it was peaceful, there was a thousand-year-old church and amazing view of the town’s old high street when exiting. It was especially picturesque when it snowed or on a sunny frosty morning when everything sparkled. In spring, and summer scents from blossom laden trees, and flowers carried on the air. Often, we would wander around the graveyard, visiting the parts where nature had reclaimed graves and wild meadow flowers grew.

It was on these walks, where my Nan would impart her words of wisdom, and conversations about life took place. Most importantly, it is where we would talk about how I was doing when my Nan took the opportunity to talk about any issues I was having. It was a safe space where I would find comfort and strength within her words. My Nan is now buried in that same church yard. She always told me not to sit by her grave crying because she’d always be with me in my heart and memories.

The High Street

When we reached the high street the first shop, we’d visit was the butchers and dependent on what meat was available would determine Sunday’s roast. She usually brought beef but occasionally it would be lamb which I did not like so she would buy a chicken as well. Along with the meat she would also buy sausages, bacon and eggs for breakfast the following day. I was never a fan of the smell of the butchers but learnt a lot from my nan talking about cuts of meat and what to look for. I enjoyed watching the butcher trussing the meat with twine, then wrapping it in greaseproof paper, and tying with string, like little meat parcels, which my grandpop would later collect on his way home from work. (Trussing is when a butcher ties meat with twine to help it keep its shape and cook evenly.)

Next came the greengrocers one of my favourite shops, I loved the smell of the mixture of vegetables, fruit with the earthy undertone. It smelt like nature, as back then produce, was how it was meant to be, natural, the root vegetables still had soil on them, nowadays I get excited if I happen across muddy potatoes. My Nan would buy vegetables to go with Sunday’s roast and extra potatoes as I always had egg and chips Saturday evening. My Nan’s homemade chips were delicious, and I still prefer making my own, there is just something about freshly cooked chips. I would watch to see which fruits Nan selected aside from what she got for the fruit bowl, because this would reveal what pudding she would be making. Either an apple pie, tart, strawberry flan, mixed fruit crumble or a steamed plum pudding or a fresh raspberry trifle my favourite dessert.

As a child my favourite fruit were apples, I was always given one by the greengrocer, where I grew up there were orchards and farms nearby, so the produce was fresh and locally sourced, which was much tastier. My Nan used to take me scrumping and we would pick fresh fruit from the trees, and nothing tasted better. This is something I also did with my children and not long ago my daughter was reminiscing about those days. Then my eldest son commented that scrumping was not some quaint tradition but in fact theft, to which he jokingly added that I had in fact taken them stealing. Nowadays I do not like apples, I have tried different varieties but can never find that childhood enjoyment.

When Nan had got everything she needed it was time to head to the tearoom, there she’d meet with a friend and their granddaughter who was around the same age as me. Today the place would be called vintage, it had floor to ceiling windows dressed in Victorian lace curtains, the tables were draped with soft white cloth and napkins, cutlery and a small vase of roses sat on top. Dainty sandwiches, warm scones with fresh strawberry jam and cream along with other cakes came on three tiered stands and there were delicate flower-patterned plates to place them on. The tea came in a porcelain tea pot with matching cups and saucers and a strainer as it was made with tea leaves. While the adults chatted, we got to enjoy ice cream sundaes, my favorite being a knickerbocker glory which was served in a tall glass with a long spoon. It was made with layers of vanilla ice-cream, fresh strawberries, syrup topped off with whipped cream, fan wafer and a cherry.

The Sweet Shop

On the way back home, we’d visit the final shop, which was the newsagents, where I would get my sweets for our afternoon movie. My nan would have preordered her newspaper which was, ‘The Times’, she had it delivered weekdays but at the weekend she or my grandpops would collect it. I loved the smell of the ink and the feel of the paper, it was a real newspaper as my adopters only brought the sun. My Nan would always choose an article for me to read which improved my reading and I loved the pink financial pages which she would give me so I could make Papier-Mache.

The sweet shop was owned by a lovely couple who were friends of my Nan and Grandpop, so whilst they chatted, I would look at the comic books, one I recall choosing was called ‘Twinkle’ which had cut out dress-up dolls, puzzles, comic strips and other fun stuff. I also liked, ‘The Beano’, which had adventures of the different characters, so I would get them both. As I got older, books replaced comic books I once enjoyed, so the last Saturday of each month my Nan would take me to the local bookstore, it was here I developed my love of old books and reading.

Once I had my comics, I would head to the counter which I had to tiptoe to see over, it was wooden and underneath were glass fronted shelves. Behind you’d discover a rainbow of sweets lining the wall in glass jars, with some wrapped individually with shiny wrappers. There were so many to choose from, toffees, jellied candy, chewy and hard boiled sweet sweets, sherbet pips, fudge, liquorice, and much more. Across from the counter was a floor to ceiling set of wooden drawers filled with an array of candy such as gobstoppers, cola and milk bottles, black jacks, bubble-gum balls, lollipops, chocolate jazzy buttons, candied mice and packets of sweet cigarettes. It was a magical place for any child and it reminded me of the sweet shop in ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’.

There was so many choice that sometimes I just could not decide so I would be given a mix of sweets, so I was enjoying pick and mix before it became a thing. The sweets me and Nan chose for watching a film were ‘Bon Bons’, balls of toffee dusted with either vanilla, strawberry or lemon sugar powder and ‘Dolly Mixtures’ a mix of multicolored fondant in different shapes and sugar-coated jellies. I was also allowed a small bottle of pop to have with my evening meal which would either be cream soda or ginger beer. Shopping finished we would head back home where I’d help my Nan put things away, then i would read my comics while she did a few chores and prepared lunch.

I miss the simplicity of shopping from back then when the high street was where you shopped for everything, and Saturday shopping was almost like a social event. What i really miss is my nan, she was my strength, guardian angel, my teacher, who lives on within me. I am so blessed to have such wonderful memories of our time spent together.

I hope you enjoyed, Saturday Shopping with Nan. I have many fond happy memories of my Nan and writing this piece was a joy and made me smile a lot.

Thank you for reading

Blessings

Finding Susan