In a recent post I deplored or at least acknowledged the onslaught of the shopping habit at the expense, it seemed to me, of churchgoing and other religious activities. In my post, I placed the beginning of this onslaught rather arbitrarily at 40 years ago, implicitly giving the impression that prior to 1970 we, the British, were not a nation of shoppers.
However, close analysis of the text of my grandmother's diaries has forced me to reconsider. Her entries abound with such phrases as "shopped locally", "shopped (un)successfully", "shopped till lunchtime" and "shopped all morning". To be perfectly honest, barely a day goes by without a reference to shopping in one guise or another and, although I have yet to come across the phrase "shopped till I dropped", I am bound to report a recent post (20 December 1956) involving my mother: "Bet shopped hard till teatime". I wonder what separates "hard" shopping from the other kinds of shopping? Is it a shopping experience in which all trace of pleasure has vanished, leaving only obsession and compulsion?
However, close analysis of the text of my grandmother's diaries has forced me to reconsider. Her entries abound with such phrases as "shopped locally", "shopped (un)successfully", "shopped till lunchtime" and "shopped all morning". To be perfectly honest, barely a day goes by without a reference to shopping in one guise or another and, although I have yet to come across the phrase "shopped till I dropped", I am bound to report a recent post (20 December 1956) involving my mother: "Bet shopped hard till teatime". I wonder what separates "hard" shopping from the other kinds of shopping? Is it a shopping experience in which all trace of pleasure has vanished, leaving only obsession and compulsion?
I think "hard" shopping was those awful slogs down Oxford St.
ReplyDeleteGran, like most others we knew, had no fridge till Uncle Reg sold the farm and she inherited that enormous object which somehow - though HOW? - was put into the larder. Milk was delivered, of course, and she used to have an order at the Essex Stores in Clifton Rd. which I suppose was delivered but everything else was bought more or less on a daily basis. I doubt if she ever found the same pleasure in these daily excursions as the residents of Tilling because she didn't know anyone in Clifton to shout "any news?" to.
I presume that when you mention "that enormous object" you are referring to the fridge and not the farm?
DeleteSTOP PRESS: latest textual analysis suggests that "shopping", "shopped", etc. is in fact code language for "partying", "partied" etc. But why would anyone want to party hard till TEATIME?
Tea dances, perhaps?
DeleteThat enormous object (ha ha, btw) was an industrial size fridge which ran the length of Gran's quite big larder, and I've no idea how on earth it ever got into the house - unless lowered over the railings from the pavement. I left it where it was when we moved.