Ooh! There was a picture of me on the front of Times2 on Monday
Well no, not really. Just (at this distance) a generic little girl of the 1950s with pigtails. Wearing gingham & a hand knitted cardi. "A time that seems recent yet is gone for ever"
It is from an exhibition of the photos of John Gay
She is shown looking hungrily at a display of cakes in a shop window. Home made, hand crafted. The sort mummy used to make
And that, when I think about it, is odd
Because nobody bought cakes like that from a shop. Every decent mother baked her own. The first lesson we learned in domestic science was the basic recipe for cake
There would probably be a cake stall at the church fete, or at a bazaar to raise money for another good cause. It would be OK to spend good money there
The family of my paternal great grandparents owned a bakery. I cant remember any cakes – except Dundee – on general sale
Fancies, yes
Small individual cakes. Too complicated, or too rich to be made in batches at home
At home, for ordinary weekday teas, mummy made batches of jam tarts, Bakewell tarts, rock cakes, fruit scones, cup cakes, melting moments, flapjacks, coconut pyramids, shortbread …
But for a once a week treat we could buy a selection of meringues, chocolate éclairs, cream buns, cream horns, Viennese whirls, Florentines, iced buns, doughnuts …
So I researched the John Gay picture further
It is one of a series of different customers of the shop. Taken in 1956, when we had almost never had it so good, & the little girl was a baby compared to me
And the shop is Claires Cakeshop in Padstow, Cornwall
So that explains it. People were on holiday
Even mummies deserve a break
So it was OK to buy a cake
