Monday 10th August 2009 – In Memoriam

I met a man who grew up in Glasgow in the 40s and 50s.  He told a lot of entertaining stories.  But he had also left as a young man, contributing to its decline.

I think he probably had quite a hard time.  In 1941, all the young men went away to war.  So very young boys were pressed into work.  He would only have been about seven or eight, but he had to help with cattle and horses.

He remembered pleasanter moments.  He remembered that the travelling cinema came every other Thursday night.  He remembered playing cards for nickels round the pot-bellied stove in the store.  He remembered the names of all the storekeepers.

He remembered the mail came from the next town and was left in a row of mailboxes beside the store.  People had to come into Glasgow to collect it.

He remembered that the men met in the lodge above the store.  He remembered there was no bar.  He remembered that when the store finally closed, a local man, a good Baptist, he said, bought it and the lodge and pulled it down because he feared someone might buy it and turn it into a bar.  (He sold off the lumber and sold the lot to the next door neighbour, so he may have had mixed motives.)

 

He didn't miss Glasgow very much, and he didn't think any of his childhood friends would either.  He went back a few times a year to visit his parents' grave.  He couldn't remember the name of the people who bought his father's house.