When I start thinking about relating experiences I realize I sometimes need to explain things that are no longer in existence. That makes me feel as though I’ve stepped out of a history book, it’s just happened again. Before people had fridges they had Ice Chests like a little cupboard with a metal lined compartment on the top and a block of ice was put in there. The food was put in the lower section. Trucks came around with big blocks of ice covered in hessian, the Ice Man had tongs like giant claws and they gripped the block of ice so he could carry it.
Today we all take fizzy drinks for granted, we have them so often but when I was little we didn’t. One weekend some relatives came to visit us at our Henley Beach house and for a special treat the oldest cousin was given money to go across the road to the shop to get some Lemonade or possibly Coke. I was so excited I was leaping about and when we got to the front of the house I raced across the road. The palms of my hands went splat against the sides of the Ice Truck, the brakes went on and the truck pulled up. I’m sure the driver was extremely relieved to see I was fine but my cousin, Heather, was furious with me. She said she was going to tell Mum what I’d done. All the excitement left me, I ran back home and climbed into my little nursery bed, devastated that I wouldn’t get any fizzy drink. I remember Mum came in and asked me what was wrong but I couldn’t tell her.
You didn’t know that about Nana did you?
Musings of a Retiring Person 