The Car

Tiny Tuesday: Monopoly and Ginger Beer


Those of you that have played Monopoly (surely everyone?) will recognise this novelty cufflink as "the Car", which along with the Dog, Top Hat, Battleship, Flat Iron and Boot were the players'  tokens .

I was introduced to Monopoly at the age of 8 by my friend John Croft (I wonder where he is now?).  He had older siblings who had taught him how to play the game.  I can still remember sitting in his house on wet day, learning how to play Monopoly drinking real ginger beer.  

I had not had ginger beer up to that point and was fascinated by this cloudy but rather lovely drink.  I already liked the taste of ginger - Mum's ginger cake (a sort of parkin) was often really quite spicy.  John explained to me all about the ginger beer plant and showed me the crystals floating in the murky liquid in the container below the staircase.  It wasn't until much later in life that I realised that the ginger beer would have been alcoholic, although presumably the alcohol content would have been quite low.

As it turns out, I can be quite a competitive person.  On reflection, having watched my own kids grow up and experience Monopoly, I think that the game is best not played by individuals who do not share the same competitive instincts.  It can otherwise make for a very unsatisfying experience for all concerned!

In hindsight, I realise now that the seeds for my later career as a property development lawyer were planted on that wet afternoon all those years ago.