More delivery stories from all around. Christine Helby of Forbes says, “Recalling the past reminds me of the corner shop in the 1950s and 1960s, which sold everything. A little boy came into my uncle’s shop and asked for a tin of strawberry jam. Ten minutes later he returned, asking: ‘Me mum said could she ’ave one without a dent in it – it looks ’orrible on the table.’” One should always have standards.
In addition to the bread, milk and ice delivery men of his young days, Barry Wooldridge of Harden remembers the occasional visit of the clothes props man. “‘Clothesssss props! Clothesssss props!’ he would call as he led his horse, which was pulling a load of saplings for holding up the lines strung across the yard. The Hills Hoist rotary line brought an end to this piece of street theatre.”
John Frith of Paddington says that, “In the 1950s in Hamilton, our postman would deliver twice a day and on Saturday mornings, in uniform and cap, with his large leather shoulder bag, and if there was mail, would blow his whistle.”
Don Firth of Wooli reports, “An uncle of mine was the milkman for a small country town. His horse pulled a cart which curved down at the back to the platform he stood on to hold the reins. Not surprisingly the locals referred to him as Ben Hur.”
Meanwhile, Brian Harris of Port Macquarie considers that, “More mention should be made of how smart the horses were. When an offsider complained to the boss that the horse hadn’t stopped at Mrs Jones’ house, the reply was ‘That’s because she’s on holidays’.”
Following up on Mosman’s knife man, Sue Wilson has lived in Mosman since 1974 and says, “I too enjoyed the visits of the ‘scissor man’. I was always happy to entrust my precious sewing scissors for sharpening as he always did a brilliant job. My recollection is that he lived in a run-down boarding house in Pitt Street, coming over to Mosman with his tools on the ferry. He was a gentleman and it was a sad day when he stopped coming.” Fellow sewing-scissors owners will know what high praise this is.
Laurie Wilson of Forestville adds that, “My mother in Liverpool UK would check how sharp the scissors were by using them to cut wet newspaper. It was a good test.”
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