Friday, March 21, 2008

PRICES

Well, it's happened. As of yesterday, we are now paying $3.01 per gallon at our local WAWA.
Why - I can remember..... (Oh, Lord! There she goes, reminiscing again!) when I'd go for a ride with Daddy, and he'd pull into the gas station. The pump was a funny thing with a big lollipop-looking thing on top that proudly proclaimed the price - 25c. Of course, those were the days of the penny postcard and the three cent stamp.

After my parents divorced, Dad gave my mother the princely sum of $100 a month child support, until I turned eighteen. No alimony. My mother was too proud. She was also virtually unemployable, being deaf, and with only a grade school education. Our rent was $80 a month. She worked in a laundry to supplement the child support. How on earth did she do it?

For one thing, kids didn't need $100 sneakers then, and none of us had cell phones or computers. In late August, Mom would take me shopping for school clothes. I'd get a pair of shoes, a winter coat, three blouses, three sweaters and a couple of skirts. That was it. And I was happy with it.

I don't remember ever being hungry. There was always bread (25 cents a loaf), and milk, and eggs, and peanutbutter. And we ate an awful (and I do mean AWFUL!) lot of tapioca pudding.
Ugh!

My father even gave me an allowance. A quarter a week. It was enough. Movies cost ten cents for the Saturday matinee, until the dreadful day when the government added a penny tax.

What do kids get today for a high school graduation gift? My mother made me a dress. My father gave me my first watch. No - that's a lie, because I did have a Mickey Mouse wrist watch at some point earlier.

Enough of this! I'm starting to feel like Granny, repeating herself, telling stories of the good old days.


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11 comments:

Ramblings of a Villas Girl said...

Hello! I enjoy the stories of the good old days. It make us realize how good we have it today. I was just telling my boss that I enjoy, when watching old TV shows or movies, looking at the gas prices. Maybe one reason is because my dad had a gas station. Anyway, I was watching "Die Hard" the other night and the price of gas was 74 cents.
For my graduation gift, I got a dozen roses and a kiss from my dad. Best gift ever. Lisa

Sandpiper (Lin) said...

Good morning! I always think of my Mom when I remember back the way it used to be. When I was first old enough to drive, we were paying about 28 cents a gallon for gas. We've been paying in the $3.30's for weeks here now. Some of the prices we pay for things now are crazy, but some of the things we buy are crazy, too. :)

kenju said...

I enjoy reminiscing with you, Bobbie. I remember 25 cent gas too, and 15 cent bread. We had tapioca once in a while and I loved it - still do.

Anonymous said...

Bobbie: I expect the price of gas is pretty shocking to you but, at a very rough guess, we pay at least twice that for petrol. With prices soaring everywhere for everything and no sign of a pay rise for us low-paid workers (once I'm off the sickness benefit!), I really don't know how our family is going to manage.

Reminisence is a wonderful thing. I'm very prone to it myself but nostalgia ain't what it used to be! ;)

Dianne said...

I loved those gas pumps that looked like lollipops and I thought it was terribly glamorous to own a car, not all of us did!

Now my nieces get cars for their birthday!

KG said...

I'm sort of jealous that you remember times when movies were ten cents! And that you received a handmade dress for graduation and it was "enough." There are these freakish shows now glorifying parents spending HUNDREDS of thousands of dollars on their kids' 16th birthday parties. What a waste. I mean . . . wouldn't the rest of your life seem kind of like a letdown after that? Why isn't the homemade dress ever enough anymore?

Oh, and your gas is way cheaper than mine at $3.46 a gallon!

me ann my camera said...

"Why - I can remember..... (Oh, Lord! There she goes, reminiscing again!)"

I love your reminiscing! And after reading them I often find myself doing the same throughout the remainder of the day.

Minnesotablue said...

Every time we go to the gas station, by husband says " iremember when gas was 39cents a gallon" I tell him, sure so do I but we only made 90cents an hour in salary! Our gas is now well over three dollars a gallon and we have cut down on some of our traveling around town or use my car only because it has better gas milage. Love your posts! I remember a lot of the same things you do and it brings back fond memories.

Lisa said...

awwww... i wish it wouldn't have ended there! i wanted more childhood stories. you're a terrific writer, and i get to know more about you all at the same time. so, if you're worried, you're definitely not boring me! keep the stories flowing. please. :)

Happy Elf Mom (Christine) said...

Hi Bobbie! Thanks for visiting my blog. I LOVE reading the reminiscing stories. Do tell another sometime! I mean, I'm not *that* old and I remember 8 cent stamps and typewriters with RIBBONS in them. And rotary phones!

pink dogwood said...

love your reminiscing. I graduated from high school in India, and there was no concept of a graduation gift :)