Grey Heron at breakfast…photo by Chris Grayson
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Shops and Shopping
by Mick O’Callaghan
continued from yesterday
Now I liked this institution (Mikey OConnor’s shop) because when we brought the shopping list into O’Connors on Wednesdays we were always allowed dip into the open biscuit or loose sweet box and have one treat. After the treat the list was handed over to Mikey. He examined it and put it on the Friday pile. He had circular wooden pieces with what looked like a knitting needle protruding upwards and he just pushed the shopping list on to the Friday pile. Then these messages were selected and duly delivered in the van by Big Pat Sullivan, and you paid him the exact amount due in cash or else you paid in cash in the shop next day. Otherwise, there was no delivery the following week. This was our online shopping with very strict credit control.
In addition to the delivery vans most shops had heavy messenger bikes with the big cumbersome wicker basket in front for deliveries of shopping. These were heavy machines to handle and were operated solely by human pedal power in all weathers. They usually had the name of the shop on a plate attached to the crossbar. They could have done with some of the battery-operated machines that today’s Deliveroo people use for fast delivery of take aways. And now as I write these delivery methods are being superseded by delivery drones. Will the next phase be robots galloping around delivering?
I remember in rural Ireland we had the man with the van travelling from village to village selling groceries and this worked well in small communities but was not widely available.
I look at shopping today and I see so many people doing click and collect since Covid times. People regard it as a great convenience which it really is.
We also have home deliveries which have become very popular with shoppers with instant card payments and online selecting and ordering. It is a fantastic system for busy people where both partners are working or for older people whose children or themselves do the shopping online and have the groceries delivered to their own kitchen table.
I smile wryly to myself when I think that we had online shopping, home deliveries and on the spot payments 75 years ago and more.
I came to Arklow in 1967 and spent my first couple of years in digs which was very settling, comfortable and secure with no shopping required, but times moved on. Our land ladies retired, and we rented a house. Now we had four bachelors who needed sustenance and had to eat. This required the provision of groceries. We went to Jack Byrnes on the Coolgreaney Road which was our nearest grocer’s shop. Now Jack operated a book service for regular customers whereby you got your groceries, they wrote them into your book, and you paid for them on pay day. This suited us perfectly until it came to pay day and dividing up the bill. The list was well scrutinised to ensure no one was doing any extra personal shopping outside the prescribed agreed list of necessary foods to be purchased for breakfast, dinner and supper. It was a great system that worked perfectly well for us before we spread our wings and settled down to more acceptable ways of living.
Shopping has developed exponentially since our barter system was common in Ireland long ago or even more so since the Egyptians used a set weight of gold to purchase goods or since Charlemagne introduced the first standard penny coin in 800 AD.
Life and shopping experiences are constantly evolving, and we must keep changing and continue to manage and adapt to the changes. As Barrack Obama said “Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we have been waiting for. We are the change that we seek “
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Memories of Ena Collins
This old image last week evoke many memories for people of a certain age. End, by all accounts was a very pious woman and a great friend of the nuns. You could say she was their eyes and ears in town. She kept a close eye on the convent girls and reported any ‘conduct unbecoming’.
Mike Moriarty has a memory of the shop and the strips of ling ( a cod like fish) hanging by the door. Ling was often salted and preserved for eating during Lent. I remember it well…ugh!
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Keep on Keeping On
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A Dingle Postbox
Maybe this one has been repainted since this photo was taken. In this snap you can see the old red paint coming through.
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You Have to Laugh
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A Fact
A small amount of alcohol on a scorpion will drive it insane and cause it to sting itself to death.
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