Can you spare shillings or two?

Growing up in Pomeroy St, Christmas wasn’t just about church, presents and food there was a certain coin of the realm need in the Ugarte household, without which there would be no Christmas.

The old Shilling

Our Christmas could be ruin for the lack of a ‘shillings’ need to feed the bloody coin meters in the house. With the gas and electricity metered, both taking shillings and the all-important television in the same boat the need for the precious Shillings and acquiring them was important. Thinking back one shilling would last in the television four or five hours at a time. I can’t remember about the gas or electricity, but it must have been a bit longer.

Christmas Eve was always busy, mum would hand out our jobs with the shillings hunt landing on my lap while Dad would head to town to get fresh veg and fruit. Has soon as I got up, washed and had breakfast I would be out the door. First shop to get a visit would be Saddles, a small corner shop around the corner from my house. You would need to buy something to prise the precious the precious coin out of the till. I would look dejected if Mr or Mrs Saddle worked around the possibly of having a shillings in my change, forcing me to ask if they had a few spare.

Then I would cross over the road on my way to the next shop stopping off at my Uncle Joe and Tony’s house, to see if they had any. Blodwyn would empty the contents of their pockets on the table and search and I could be in line for a few bob myself, one of the benefits of the job.

Down the road to Marion’s another corner shop to see if I could part them from a few more shillings who were always help. Marion was always helpful and would do her best to fill my hands with shillings. The short wonder home to see if mum consider there was enough for the Christmas holiday period. Come the evening mum could give me my final job knocking around some neighbours to dig up the final few.

We always ended up with enough and would be ok over holiday period, but mum was never happy unless the pile on top of the TV looked right. This article is based 1970 some 43 years-ago and even today it might not be shillings, but tokens I will need to make sure we are top-up for Christmas.