Home > Real life stories > [20] 1977 to 1987 Working in Aladdin’s cave
Continuing my real-life story from 1977 onwards on our tomato nursery.
We had a very happy life at Ardleigh, attending St. John’s Anglican church in Colchester, but by 1980, profits in horticulture had started to fall, owing to the quantities of Dutch produce flooding the markets, so we decided to look for another business, perhaps in retailing.
Eventually, the estate agent offered us a hardware shop in Lowestoft, Suffolk, and against the advice of our accountant and bank manager, we bought it, as Roy could see the possibilities for growth there, so we moved to the East Coast in June 1981.
Our customers used to call it an “Aladdin’s cave”, as we had such a diverse stock.
Angela Middleton used to serve in the shop in the mornings, so I was usually able to do housework, cooking, etc, just occasionally being called in to help serve if we were extra busy, say on a Saturday morning.
For the first year we were there, Diane also served in the shop in the afternoons, but then sadly she became ill with ovarian cancer and died quite quickly, so Roy and I worked together then by ourselves.
One or two of the customers were old fishermen, and they, and quite a few others, used to queue in the shop with their cans to be filled with paraffin.
The tap for this was in a little room off the shop, which also housed a paint mixer (this was fun!).
As this used to take about ten minutes to do, and if the shop was unmanned, I wonder how many things we lost to shoplifters?
Once Angela challenged a young man she saw put a small can of paint under his jacket, and she made him give it back, but another time, a man walked out of the door with a large 2-and-a-half litre can.
I ran after him and shouted, but of course, he took no notice.
Roy also lent some tools to a man who said he needed to do a job at home, and after a long while, they had not been returned. Roy went round to his house, but the man threatened him, so Roy sensibly left the scene!
We took up golf in 1982, not the serious sort where a yearly membership is required, but pay as you go, and thankfully we had two good courses to choose from:
Dip Farm Golf Course at Gunton, Lowestoft, on top of the cliff by Pleasurewood Hills Family Theme Park was a lovely location to bash a golf ball around without snooty looks from the ‘clubhouse’!
Editor’s note: “The much loved challenging nine-hole par three golf course was closed by Waveney District Council in December 2018 due to continuing losses.”
Golf’s missing Links 1
Then in 1986, we began to look for a place to retire to, and as we found the most easterly part of Britain rather too cold and windy, we moved in 1987 to Newton Flotman, near Norwich.
In all the moves in our lives, we felt that the Lord was providing for us, and giving us an opportunity to be witnesses for Him.
I know that my redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand on the earth.”
Job 19:25 NIV
More of Christine Reason’s true life story in these articles:
[1] 1922 to 1930
[21] 1988 to 1992 Building a kit car