Rita Butt
Columns
May 13, 2008 10:48 AM
By: Rita Butt
I know I sometimes remember the past with great nostalgia, but, I must admit, at the same time with great relief.
For one thing, we didn’t have malls.
If we wanted anything badly enough, we had to trudge from one establishment to another, sometimes in pouring rain or raging blizzards.
Our paper bags would fall apart and the fur on our collars would emit strange odours.
We didn’t have escalators, only elevators with uniformed staff.
When we first were allowed on an escalator, it was a great thrill, almost like being at the exhibition on a free ride.
When they first introduced automatic door openings, we children thought it was hilarious to watch the non-informed punch out strongly at the door and when it opened to see them stumble into the void with the strength of their push. What fun.
When malls first arrived they were merely two or three stores with separate entrances, but at least you were under a roof. This was real progress.
They were called strip malls and there is a great number of them still operating.
When the big malls arrived, it was a sensation.
We couldn’t believe the wonder of being inside, secure and oblivious of the wether, meeting all our friends and relatives, not being intimidated into buying anything, finding the facilities and resting whenever we felt the urge.
Today, I think it is wonderful for young mothers to have all these areas for wheeling their strollers, for young children on the loose and even for the disabled to run their scooters.
Many of us are not there to make any purchase at all, only to look for friends and chit-chat and maybe have a coffee.
I know there is security staff circulating, but in the old days, each department store had a floor-walker in charge of spotting would-be pilferers.
He always gave you the fish-eye at the front door.
One big change is children are afraid of adults. When we were young, we thought everyone was good and were not afraid of anyone.
My mother used to tell us, “You’ll never get lost if you have a tongue in your head”.
Just after the Lindberg abduction, she would say, “Don’t worry about anyone stealing you, they would drop you at the first lamp post”.
I am really pleased someone invented malls. They are wonderful places for seniors to congregate when they have seen enough of each other and wonder what the rest of the world is doing.
Goodness knows, they are not there to see the styles.
It is very unusual when you don’t see anybody you know and you always go home feeling cheered.