Thruppence Worth o' Chips?

I guess most Dundonians will be aware of "The Pearl" Chinese take-away at 258 Clepington Road, adjacent to King's Cross Road. It's been there for years and although I haven't had anything from there for a while I always remember their food to be good. However I have fond and vivid memories of it being an Italian "chippy" before that. I don't know what it was called but I remember an elderly Italian woman serving us.

During the dark nights, over the autumn and winter I guess, when you got home from school you couldn't really go out with your pals. I lived with my grandparents and if the weather was good my granddad used to like taking me out for walks. So we would head up from West March, go along Gillburn Road then past Fairmuir Park to the chip shop. I also used to remember jumping on some big rocks that were outside the "Copper Beach" pub in Derwent Avenue. However my treat was thruppence (threepence - three pennies in pre-decimal money) worth o' chips with salt and vinegar. My granddad used to have a knack of tearing the newspaper wrapper in a certain way so the I ended up with a little bag to eat my chips from.

Trying to determine your age at that time, from memory is a difficult thing to do. I always use to like looking over the railway bridge that went under Strathmartine Road at Fairmuir Park. I think the trains had stopped by then but I now know that it was the line of the old Newtyle-Dundee railway.

The other thing that I remember was that the "DLB" (Direct Labour) offices and yard were being built at the time. This has now been remnamed Tayside Contract Services but it still serves the same purpose.

My main memory however is those lovely walks with my dear granddad, topped off by hot chips served by an old Italian woman. I can still smell the salt and vinegar as I type this.

Creamola Foam

Creamola Foam was a little tub of powder that, when mixed with water, turned into a fizzy fruit flavoured drink. Creamola Foam was the drink of choice for generations of children across Scotland who would enjoy making "big glasses" using the flavoured crystals and water. The drink originally came in Raspberry, Orange, and Lemon flavours and Cola was a later addition to the range. Creamola Foam became popular in Scotland from the 1950s onwards. After the grim days of austerity and rationing, having a fizzy drink you could mix yourself was quite a luxury and it remained popular. The production of the brand ceased in 1998, sparking a wave of disappointment and a growing campaign for its return ever since. The exact formula which made the sugary concoction so special was lost when production ceased in 1998, leaving would-be revivalists relying on nothing more than imprecise ingredient lists and recollections of how the drink tasted, looked and felt in the mouth.

Alas a clone of Creamola Foam has yet to be realised.

Home Shopping 1970s Style

Whilst on the theme of times when people didn’t have cars to travel everywhere in the 1970s, there were vans and lorries coming round to your street selling and delivering all manner of things. There were the usual milk lorries and ice cream vans, but we also had the fish van from Gourdon, Cargill’s butcher’s van from Arbroath, the van from Nicholl’s bakery and the lemonade lorry from Bon Accord in Aberdeen. You put the empty lemonade bottles on the doorstep from the week before and the lemonade laddies would take away the empties and bring back full bottles. The bottles of lemonade each carried a “deposit” which meant when you returned the bottles you got money.

The Changing Face of the Co-Op

I have become aware that the Co-Op brand again appears to be more visible around the streets of Dundee. The shop at the top of Caird Avenue has recently been re-branded as a Co-Op once again, years after it was last "The Sosh". The Co-Op used to be a major brand locally. In Dundee there were shops all over the place, especially local supermarkets with their dividend stamps and also a large store at the bottom of Peter Street in the City Centre that sold furniture and electrical goods.

My earliest memories of "The Sosh" were my gran buying a new washboard to do the laundry and of course the aforementioned "divi" stamps that were dished out with every purchase. It seemed to be at the heart of every community at a time when the corporate giants didn't even exist.

Having taken over Somerfield in 2008, they became the fifth biggest food retailer, but seem to be adopting a strategy that is different from the large, edge of town, superstores built by the big four. Smaller, locally based stores cater for those who want convenience without having to travel distances for their weekly shop. It is a strategy that might just work.

Credit Crunch Bingo

In tandem with George Osborne's spending review I have revised the old office bingo and suggested a new version. Some of you will no doubt be familiar with the game of office bingo. Devised as an antidote to overly long and boring meetings, this game kept participants alert by trying to catch their colleagues out when they resorted to management speak, watching for words or phrases like:

win-win

continuous improvement

out of the loop

ballpark

out of the box thinking

strategic fit

However in these days of austerity I argue that language in organisations will have to adapt and so perhaps a new set of bingo cards should be made with words or phrases like:

in the current climate

the need to make savings

challenging circumstances

considerable uncertainty

difficult times ahead

working smarter

Government Spending Cuts

Today must be a low point in modern history as George Osborne, Chancellor of the Exchequer, announced his spending review. Having bought, gambled and sold with money that was never theirs in the first place, our bankers who should have left the country an inheritance from economic growth have left the UK in debt to the equivalent of £1400 per person.

In these depressing times the following jokes might lighten the blow.

The current economic climate has helped me get back on my feet. The car's been repossessed.

What's the difference between an investment banker and a large pizza? A large pizza can feed a family of four.

I went to a Cash Machine this morning and it said "insufficient funds". I'm wondering is it them or me.

The V&A at Dundee

The City's waterfront will be undergoing major redevelopment over the next 20 years. At the forefront of this redevelopment is a design centre to showcase international exhibits under the auspices of the world's leading museum of art and design. Currently on display at the University of Abertay, Dundee are the six designs that have been shortlisted from over 120 applicants. All designs display ambition, something that is not traditionally associated with Dundee, a city that comes seventh in everything.

Delugan Meissl (Vienna)

Described by some as akin to a Star Wars fighter craft.

Kengo Kuma (Tokyo)

Very textured white walls as if made out of match sticks. This is not a criticism, just a way of describing what it looks like.

REX (New York)

An inverted pyramid with staggered, mirrored sides said to resemble the Scottish "bluebell" flower.

Snøhetta (Oslo)

This is the only design that sits lows in the water, reminding me either of something from "Thunderbirds" or likely to be home to an aspiring Bond villain.

Steven Holl (New York)

Clad in what could be transluscent white paper, this gives the effect of something that is lightweight.

Sutherland Hussey (Edinburgh)

At first sight this seems to be the most conventional design, consisting of a box. That this box refers to the 5000 years old Crannog design, gives the design a bit more meaning.