Friday, May 11, 2007

One Little Man Unlocked So Many Memories

When I was a child and living in Hong Kong, I was given my pocket money on a Saturday morning. It always burnt a hole in my pocket.

I was given $4 HK. Half was put into my bank account, and I was free to do as I wished with the rest. It would have amounted to 2/6d in old money, 12 1/2 new pence...but then I am going back 50+ years!

I had to put some money aside for my weeklyBunty comic, but the remainder was almost invariably spent in a small, local, Chinese shop.

Most of my purchases would be stationery, pens, pencils, erasers, pencil sharpeners, crayons.

The stationery gave me countless hours of fun as I filled notebooks with stories. I was determined to be the nextEnid Blyton... this was shortly before I just knew I was going to be the next Pat Smythe (a showjumper)... which was followed by the period when I decided that I really needed to combine the two. I would write equestrian stories, like thePullein-Thompson sisters.


Occasionally I was tempted away from stationery and bought little china figures, cats, or horses.
They cost very little - or I wouldn't have been buying them.


I would have one final purchase to make. During the season I would buy a mango. Then, with the aid of my fingernails, I'd peel the soft, yellow skin back and bite into the sweet, juicy flesh. I have no doubt that I must have ended up as a sticky mess.

Recently my aunt decided to throw away a lot of clutter and was about to discard this little fellow.

I had to intervene, and offer him a home. I couldn't bear to let him go to the charity shop. After all, I can practically remember purchasing him all those years ago. He brought back lots of hidden memories.

These days I still love buying new stationery and I still love eating mangoes.

However, I think the last china figure I bought was this chap.

I don't plan to buy any others.

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