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28/10/2020 0 Comments

Dreaming of a Bright Christmas

As a sweet shop we obviously attract children of all ages, fascinated by the shapes and colours of Toxic Waste, Hubba Bubba, Tango Spray, Pez, Brain Licker and Fizz Wiz that form an essential part of the sweet dictionary of childhood.

Most children are as excited as I was when first confronted by Sherbet Fountains, Lucky Bags and Spangles, though it can present quite a choice to be made.

We are extremely patient with children (and parents!) when waiting for them to choose from 80 pots of Pick n’ Mix sweets, and never rush them unless there is a big queue forming. It’s a bit more difficult at the moment with us having to restrict numbers of people in the shop, but we do try to give them time and space if we can.

Yesterday a little girl told me proudly – and very confidently - all about her first term at big (Primary) school (everything is relative in a child’s eyes!) and how her teacher told her she was really good at colouring. I am expecting proof of this talent in the weeks ahead but haven’t yet told her that I will only be accepting signed copies.

This has been effectively the first half-term week of the year for us as February saw much of Worcester flooded and May saw pretty much nothing at all. Many really friendly families have visited us – either keen to enjoy some welcome space and fresh air together – or visiting friends and family in the Worcestershire area while they still can.

People have been buying Christmas presents since early September and many of our latest visitors have looked at our Christmas brochure online beforehand and have been attracted to the range of Christmas gifts we are offering once again. I’m pleased to say that our beautiful new Sweet Lorry hampers have also been selling well.

Christmas jumpers will soon be out to match those of our Cats and Dogs who are also sporting rather fetching pullovers on our tubes of biscuits. We may even sing carols (though ‘cats' chorus’ may be a more appropriate description of this than a harmony of voices).

We have been inundated with mice once again and, for those who have liked our page on Facebook, there is an online competition to guess how many sugar mice we sold on the run up to Christmas last year. Sadly, cats are unable to participate as they skew the numbers somewhat.

Indeed, this week’s View is a day early than usual. For those who put their clocks back by 24 hours instead of one, it may not have been noticed at all, but I mention it as a courtesy to everyone else. Tomorrow evening we are putting our new Christmas window together (no nails, no putty) as well as decorations and lights around the shop.

Like the children we are, we are dreaming of a bright, if not white Christmas and we see our window as an extension of all our hopes and dreams for the future, as well as a trip back to happy times for everyone looking in. We can’t wait for you to see it, or for us to see you.

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22/10/2020 1 Comment

Don't just go to work on an egg, be the egg

As many of you may already know there is a biennial literature prize which is awarded to writers who have taken on themes of human freedom and what it means as part of society. The Jerusalem Prize for the Freedom of the Individual in Society was awarded, in 2009, to Haruki Murakami.

In his acceptance speech he declared that ““If there is a hard, high wall and an egg that breaks against it, no matter how right the wall or how wrong the egg, I will stand on the side of the egg. Why? Because each of us is an egg, a unique soul enclosed in a fragile egg. Each of us is confronting a high wall. The high wall is the system which forces us to do the things we would not ordinarily see fit to do as individuals ... We must not let the system control us - create who we are. It is we who created the system.”

I have been mindful of this thought this week as so many people have come into the sweet shop, apparently flattened by what the government is doing to combat COVID-19 or flattened by what it isn’t doing. There is also a rather tired acceptance – or at least an understanding – that they know best.

I’m not sure that this is the case. Certainly, central government looked after us during the spring lockdown but the new owners of our franchise chose that very moment to compete with us on a far-from-level playing field, and our landlords accepted every penny of rent as usual, without a murmur of support. Thankfully, there are a lot of eggs working in Worcester City Council and Worcester BID who, like us, are equally determined not to be beaten by a system of disease.

Through it all, we remain eggs. We observe and take note. The old lady who comes in with more purses than there are layers in a Russian doll, who only buys Chocolate Limes; the very forthright man who regularly buys five Chocolate Brazils, and the lovely couple who buy a quarter of Jelly Babies (the proper ones, mind) almost every week. To the outside world – to the system – these people are different somehow. They don’t quite fit because they are happy to be eggs – and we applaud each and every one of them.

Even the lady who stood on our front door mat this afternoon and thought that we were mad to ask her to wear a face mask. Suddenly extremely angry, she told us we were ‘f***ing weirdos,’ tried to overturn our jar of Blackpool Rock and stormed off. Yes, she had issues, but she was still an egg - a real person not just some unfortunate statistic.

We see ourselves very much as independent people – both in our business and as forward-thinkers. With such low footfall on Worcester’s High Street currently, the walls do indeed seem high … but not insurmountable. We have developed a new online company – The Sweet Lorry – which delivers themed hampers of gifts such as The Gin and Lime, The Coffee Pot and The Family Affair, in beautiful gift boxes and wicker hampers.

As eggs, we may well be smashed against the walls of financial ruin but better that than allowing our four walls to form a prison cell.

This is also why we always endeavour to cater for individual needs. Anyone coming in and starting a conversation with “this might be a silly question but …” is an egg; an ally against the system of sameness and conformity (unless of course they’re misguidedly looking for bleach or puncture repair kits).

We pride ourselves on our huge collection of vegetarian and vegan sweets; of gluten-free and dairy-free options. We made up a large jar of vegan sweets for a customer this morning, and an even larger one of Peppermint Creams this afternoon. It’s what we do. and the walls of our shop will only close in on us through the collective will of others that we cannot control.

Though it is hard we must accept that those who are privileged and much too grand to grace a sweet shop – or walk around with an elevated air of distaste when they do – will prefer to poach their own nest eggs, while ordinary people like us boil over with rage. They too are individuals and making the system work for them, and them alone.

As Haruki reminded us, we created the system and must not simply allow it to control us. Observe guidelines, certainly; do not flout the rules wilfully, and never assume that misfortune that strikes a fellow egg could not affect you. But please don't give up on freedom of thought either. What would we talk about in the shop otherwise?

‘Go to work on an egg’ was the strapline of an advertising campaign by the Egg Marketing Board in the 1950s and 60s. The proposition was that having an egg for breakfast, with all its inherent goodness, was the best way to start a working day. Interestingly, in the ‘politically correct’ system of 2007 a plan to bring the adverts back was rejected because they didn’t promote a varied diet.

I say that variety is good, but do not throw the egg out with the boiling water from the pan. Being an individual is fine by us. Don’t just go to work on an egg, be the egg.

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15/10/2020 0 Comments

‘Christmas is coming
And with Boris getting fat,
Many people are asking
If there will still be an old man’s hat’

The short answer to that is that I think there still will be but, sadly, less old men this year and I fear that their hats may contain too many holes to contain pennies.

It’s been a really tough time for all of us, hasn’t it but, especially, for older people who remember when Dominic was a saint not a sinner, when dip dabs did not mean embezzlement, and when visors were only worn for riveting entertainment.

The older generation have generally worked hard all their lives and just want to enjoy themselves now – perhaps indulge in a few treats that they may have forsaken for so many years in order to give their children the very best of everything.

So many older ladies and gentlemen enter our sweet shop and are taken back to a time before children – when they were children themselves – and many still retain that sense of fun. For others, life and the virus threatening to end it, are clearly all-consuming. We worry with them because it could also spell the end of our little shop.

So, why don’t we all follow the advice of Wordsworth, in one of my favourite odes:

‘Though nothing can bring back the hour
Of splendour in the grass; of glory in the flower,
We shall grieve not – rather find
Strength in what remains behind.’

Christmas is, of course, a great reminder that there is always hope, if only we can keep faith in a better future for all of us.

I’m pleased to say that Christmas has arrived at number 97a High Street as Worcester’s customers look to buy their presents and stocking-fillers earlier than ever, and the reindeer too have delivered our Christmas stock early. They will also deliver it to you if you wish (and have an ongoing supply of carrots).

Have a look at our Christmas brochure and you will see what we have to offer. As regular visitors to the shop will know, we have quite quickly become a gift shop that also sells sweets, as opposed to a sweet shop that also sells a few gifts from time to time.

Beautiful red Robin tins of vanilla fudge arrived this morning (though I understand that Batman is feeling a bit pushed out and currently taking legal advice from his lawyers in Gotham City on exclusion grounds).

We also have beautiful Snowmen and Stargazer tins of vanilla fudge, though I refer to the latter as ‘The John Lewis tin’ after their 2013 Christmas ‘Bear and the Hare’ advertising campaign which is, to date, their most successful ever.

I also consider Stargazer to be a track on my Rainbow Rising album from 1976 which I sometimes place on the turntable and play at maximum volume when Michelle is safely outside, working hard in the garden.

If it’s shortbread you’re after, then reindeer, sheep and Scottie dogs will be happy for you to take them for a walk.

Those loving chocolate in solid or liquid form are well served, while fudge and alcohol prove again what a fantastic combination they truly are.

We have jellies, toffee slabs and hampers of all your favourites which we hope will bring some respite from the cold winds from the north.

‘If you can’t afford the sweet things
Then a cheerful wave will do.
If you can’t find it within yourself to smile,
Then may God bless you.’

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8/10/2020 0 Comments

As some of you may remember from one of my earliest posts, I have been known to sometimes listen to Val Doonican records …

For those of you still reading, I’ll continue.

I suppose the word ‘records’ ages me somewhat as so much music is streamed these days isn't it? Or at least in CD format. I still love putting vinyl on the turntable though and being connected via the stylus to a completely different world.

A lot of our visitors and customers obviously feel the same way when walking into our little sweet shop as it takes them back to their own childhoods but also the stories told to them by parents or grandparents who have long since left the stage.

They tell us about money saved on bus fares and invested wisely on Refresher Chews. One lady bought £10 of them this morning and promised faithfully to ration her haul to one per week – as though we were going to check up on her!

Liquorice Catherine Wheels evoke a lot of memories that just keep coming around, and those seeking Liquorice Root Sticks are as thrilled to find them as the Tudors must have been when using them as toothbrushes.

It’s nice to share fond experiences of sweets that really remind us about people. It’s not nearly so much fun when people remind us that experiences can be equally sour.

On Saturday morning a fairly elderly man refused to come into the shop while a couple of other people were inside. We do monitor numbers closely at this time but usually consider that if the rule of six is prescribed by highly paid civil servants then it’s probably good enough for us. Anyway, he and a young boy only entered when the shop was completely empty.

He proceeded to tell us how we didn’t care about our customers; didn’t understand how long two metres actually was (again, we thought the suits in their London clubs had agreed to one metre being the standard, yet we still mark our floor out in quadrants of two square meters), and that, cheerfully, we would shortly be closed down.

He concluded his treatise by informing us in a commanding voice that he was a special advisor to an important government department in London, as though this would render us silent in breathless awe and servitude.

Michelle and I aren’t really like that. We pointed out quietly that although he observed merely a shop girl and boy in front of him, we did in fact have four degrees between us – including a Master’s degree each – were members of Mensa and spent many years living in and working for major national companies in London, before starting up our own businesses - therefore we did have some small idea of what we were doing ...

Even if he had listened for more than a second, our messages were quickly drowned out in his head by him then shouting at the top of his voice that he ‘didn’t want an argument.’ I can understand that; I’m quite sure that he wasn’t used to people arguing with him.

I actually felt very sorry for the little boy who turned out to be his son, and who just wanted a bag of Jelly Brains from the Pick n’ Mix counter.

Later the same day a middle-aged man and his wife bought one of our lovely new Big Wheel tins of salted caramel fudge. It was for his 97-year old father’s birthday. I was happy to explain how the other fairground tins in this collection – the Carousels and the Helter Skelter - contained shortbread or English toffees, but it was the Big Wheel he particularly wanted.

He explained, a little tearfully, that his father was blind and less concerned about the contents yet would love to run his hands over his birthday present to remind himself of the shape of a Big Wheel at the fairground he loved to visit when he was just a small boy. I wish I could have asked his father about the sweets he might also have enjoyed in the late 1920s or early 1930s.

As Val sang in his version of the classic:
“One little fellow is friends with the wind in the willows
All of them children and all are mysterious people”

Finally, I’ve had a lot of nice comments regarding last week’s blog about animals in the shop. Can I just update you to say that we have now added Scottie dogs and sheep in shortbread tin form; also, to reassure some readers, no animals were hurt in the making of this sweet life.

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1/10/2020 0 Comments

Napoleon once described us as a ‘nation of shopkeepers.’ I don’t think he was being complimentary about our lovely window displays or back wall of brightly coloured boiled sweets in jars.

I also don’t believe his observation was accurate – much like his view that snow in Russia would soon melt or that the ‘wondergrow’ Weetabix breakfasts he enjoyed each morning would eventually work.

My own view is that we are a nation of animal lovers. I was reflecting on this as we drove into Worcester today. The early autumnal sunshine was beaming through the once green leaves of the trees, preparing for change as is the rest of the country beyond the countryside.

Michelle reminded me that we are now in October and that we’d soon have to be watchful for deer suddenly appearing out of foggy mornings. When I eventually emerged from my personal foggy start, I was reminded of how many animals we offer shelter to in our sweet shop.

Micky’s Garden Party is a beautiful tin of mini chocolate chip shortbread and features a little cat and a dog having fun in a hammock! We also provide lovely vanilla fudge tins for those wanting to thank neighbours or friends for looking after their cat or dog. One gentleman visitor from Italy was most upset last summer when I couldn’t offer him a ‘thank you for looking after my goldfish’ variant. I wasn’t entirely sure if he was being ironic or deadly serious, but haven’t woken to a dead fish or horse’s head on my pillow lately so hopefully his pets survived his absence.

On the subject of horses, we have a very nice new tin of vanilla fudge featuring different types of equine beast. The Mustang is my favourite but probably only because it reminds me of a road trip from New York to Toronto many years ago …

We have farmyard boxes of chocolates and tins of jelly beans, featuring pigs and sheep and cows (try not to mention Moo Free to them though as it makes them unsettled) , and also a new forest tin which highlights foxes, badgers and, well, deer.

Pink Pigs and swine formerly known as Percy also feature in our pick n’ mix selection, and marshmallow pigs and cats often feature in our lollipop range. Sheep also flock to our shop in chocolate or lollipop form. Charles the Spaniel is a regular chocolate figure in these parts, as are hedgehogs and, inevitably, cats, also in liquorice form.

Our cats actually do rather well in the shop and we often come in to find Cheshire grins being sported all over the shop, as we do have a lot of mice (or did!) – psychedelic mice, white mice, sugar mice …

Some cats are of course pescetarian but we look after them too with salted herrings from our specialist liquorice range, dolphins and sharks from pick n’ mix. Sadly, no ‘thank you for looking after my pescetarian cat’ offerings though.

Our ancient ancestors obviously loved animals too – up to a (very sharp) point – as dinosaurs also feature in chocolate and jelly bean form, as do other reptiles such as chocolate frogs and turtles. We also get the occasional unicorn, but they’ve generally vanished before we get the chance to do a stock take.

Jelly-filled snails occasionally (and always very slowly) crawl under our counter, and jelly or fizzy worms often wriggle their way into paper bags for the little boys and girls of Worcester to enjoy. Oh, and we’re expecting robins to fly in this Christmas.

With Worcester BID ushering in herds of elephants to the city next summer, hopefully sunnier times lie ahead for all of us.

‘Vive les animaux’ as they quite correctly say in France.

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Author

I am a writer and historian with a passion for sweets and football (not necessarily in that order!). I write fiction and non-fiction and, after working in the media for over 30 years, now run a sweet shop with my wife, Michelle, trading as Mr Simms Worcester. I also write about the history of sweets in a series of blog posts: 'A Funny Thing Happened on the way to the Sweet Shop.'

Our shop is situated on the corner of Worcester's High Street and Fish Street - hence the title of this blog. I will be writing a weekly piece on thoughts and developments both in the world of sweets, the High Street and Worcestershire in general. All thoughts are my own.

YOUR CART

A view from the corner shop

Dreaming of a Bright Christmas

Don't just go to work on an egg, be the egg

Pennies and Pounds

Mysterious People

Sweet on animals

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