Lucky Tatties

That was two very different shopping experiences we had in town today. First, we freaked Euan out by taking him into Lidls; he's already made assumptions of the 'type of people' that shop in there and the "Big Issue" seller blocking off the entrance intimidated him (and me I suppose as I tried to enter through the exit as she accosted me). So, it was time to educate him and show him there are other stores besides Tesco, Asda and Morrisons. It also helps out Heather with her Higher German as a lot of their products originate there. And it was all going well until the checkout.

The obviously bored-out-of-her skull assistant there asked the woman she was serving if she knew the price of the house plant she'd placed on the conveyor. A shrug of the shoulders followed by a barely concealed roll of the assistant's eyes was immediately punctuated by a lung bursting yelp of "Senga... can you get us a price for this hoose plant" projected down the aisles to some invisible colleague at the back of the shop (no fancy flashing lights or intercom here). After a brief pause there came a "Whit did ye say?" and then a waving in the air of the sorry looking plant to clarify. A garbled list of numbers came back that caused the operator to look at the long queue forming and ask "Did onybody hear that?". Thankfully the customer two or three back had and we were cooking with gas once more. Within seconds she'd hurled our purchases to the back of the checkout and, without a look our way or an attempt at a customer service training programmed false smile, had taken our money and began sliding the next customer's goods towards us. Euan panicked when he couldn't get the carrier bag open quick enough and Heather stepped in to sort the pair of us out.

We then stopped off here at "Anna's Larder", a wee shop that's been in Alloa forever and ran by generations of Italians. It's a proper sweet-toothed Aladdin's cave in there and as we peered in the windows past the Airfix kits (in the one on the right) I spotted a big jar of Lucky Tatties.* I think it must've been the 1970s that I last tasted these so we went inside to get some. The shopkeeper in his proper greengrocer's apron was serving a customer, going around the small shop collecting what was asked for and addressing the older gent with a polite "sir" now and again. He served us with the same level of attention, smiling at the kids as he counted out half a dozen of the sweets, then waved as we left.

Two experiences at opposite ends of the shopping spectrum within 50 yards of each other. And the sad thing is, as small a town as Alloa is, we have a giant Tesco and a giant Asda, a substantial Morrisons, a large Lidl and a large Aldi all within walking distance of each other. These small shops haven't a chance and that's a real shame. I know I'll be back (spotted peanut brittle and soor plooms on the shelves) but whether my kids will have the opportunity to buy their own a Lucky Tattie or a quarter of liquorice comfits we'll just have to wait and see.

*Lucky tatties (potatoes) are one of Scotland's oldest sweets, they used to come with small novelties hidden inside (that was the 'lucky' part, wouldn't get away with that nowadays) and were flavoured with cinnamon. They taste vile.