Tipp-Ex was the white correcting fluid used by anyone with a manual typewriter – office typists, letter writers, journalists, authors and newspaper columnists.
It came in a small bottle and when you unscrewed the top, it revealed a tiny brush which applied the white liquid to the word you’d mis-spelt on the typing paper.
Once the liquid dried, you’d retype the word correctly over it. Much more laborious than pressing ‘Delete’ on a PC.
I was reminded of Tipp-Ex while in conversation with a writer friend.
Hours after submitting an article to a magazine he’s a regular contributor to, he noticed a silly typographical error he’d missed, despite having re-read the piece several times before pressing ‘Send’.
So he e-mailed the magazine editor, pointed out the mistake and jokingly asked if he’d kindly ‘Tipp-Ex it out and re-type it’ for him.
What larks!
The editor, having a similar sense of humour to my writer friend, wrote back “I’m out of Tipp-Ex, but if you send me a bottle, I’ll correct the error for you!”
This prompted my friend to respond, “Where’s the cheapest place to buy it? Safeway? Kwik Save or Dixons*?”
*For younger readers – three once popular shops, long defunct.
Came the tongue-in-cheek reply . . . “Try Rumbelows!”
I hadn’t thought about Rumbelows, the electronics retailer that once had branches in most towns and cities for, ooh, 30 years.
Which is approximately how long they’ve been gone.
This got me wondering about all the other shops we’ve lost from our town and city centres over the decades.
While it’s unbelievable that Swansea and Newport lost their city centre branches of Marks & Spencer this year, here’s just a few shop names that completely vanished from our high streets . . .
Borders Books
Blockbusters
British Home Stores,
C & A
Ciro Citterio
David Greigs
Debenhams,
Littlewoods
MacFisheries
MVC
Our Price
Richards
Salisbury’s
Wilko
Woolworths (How I miss their Pick’n’Mix!)
They, with many other ‘lost’ shops, made it worthwhile spending time and money in our high streets.
To tempt shoppers back, they’ll need to offer a lot more than vape shop, a dozen barbers and a ‘Cash For Gold’ emporium.