John Ginesi Poet Narrative

My Grandfather's Grocer Shop

My Grandfather's Grocer Shop

I was born in Liverpool - England and
I remember back to when I was a child
how I marvelled at the way things were done
in my Grandfather's Grocer shop. in the early 1950s.
I saw him getting a portion of butter and
by using two paddle boards, knock up the butter 
to form a block of butter, then wrap it up in
white shop paper, and then he would go to this 
large bacon slicer which operated by turning 
a huge wheel with a handle, then removing 
the bacon from a butcher's hook and then 
carving large slices of bacon on it, he would then
hand slice the cheese and wrap it by hand 
then give it to the customer, eggs had no cartons 
back then, so they were just put into brown paper bags,
customers would often return over broken eggs
and want replacements, if children came in they 
would spend the pocket money on a bag of broken 
biscuits, straight from the large tins they came in
as there were no packets of biscuits during those 
early years of the 1950s, the shopkeepers would 
often give free samples out to promote new products
as advertising was very rare and visual advertisements
were often seen on counters or on walls, I used to go in
my Grandfather's shop and was given a large peice 
of cheese or some chocolate biscuits as a family gesture.
I watched in amazement as my Grandfather would count 
the days takings out of the old fashion till, he would 
turn a handle and the draw would pop out, it did not even 
have push keys like the more modern cash registers of the 
time, but it was vintage in every way, my Grandfather is 
now gone, his shop has been knocked down for redevelopment 
as many old businesses went the same way but 
I will never forget the wonderful memories of my 
Grandfather's Grocer Shop.

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