I would like to tell you of my own Mayberry town where I grew up. We lived on the edge of town on a small farm, 45 acres, and could walk to the middle of town in about 20 minutes. We had 5 churches, 6 service stations, yes, service stations where you got your oil, water, anti freeze and tires checked for free. Gas was 29.9c a gallon for regular and high test was only a nickel more! A "soda" was a nickel, and the best was a grape soda called 'Tiny.' Only 5oz but the best drink going! We had a town sergeant and no deputy, a full time sheriff who never wore a gun and deputy sheriff who did, and he wound up getting shot but not killed. No traffic lights but one caution light blinking day and night. We eventually got a drive-in theater on both ends of town after the theater downtown burned, along with a store, restaurant and service station known affectionately as "Zeke's Corner." It was nothing to see a tractor going through town, and in the early days around the courthouse there was always horse trading done on Saturday. Plus, you could always find a truckload of watermelons and cantaloupes on Saturdays. I have, more than once, taken a crate of chickens to town to sell for the folks to have for their Sunday Dinner! WE had no little league but we always got together and chose up sides and had a ball game, and who needed to keep score! We played for fun and we had lots of it. The 2 drugstores had all kinds of medicine, including Hadacol which was 45% (90 proof) alcohol. It was guaranteed to make you feel better and now you know why! Each drugstore had a soda fountain with booths where you could sit and enjoy your soda, ice cream, or other snack. You could not only get medicine but any other item you needed in the medical line, like band aids, Pepto, and even hair curlers. Or, you could make a phone call from the mahogany phone booth by getting the operator to get the number for you. Our home number was 75 and my aunt's was 32W11. I had to make a call from it one time to tell a friend another one of our friends had died from injuries in and auto wreck. Later, we had a night watchman we referred to as Barney Fife! One extremely cold night, I was in my car with a couple other friends when we saw him coming. The guy in the back pulled off his coat, his shirt, t-shirt, rolled his pants legs up to his knees, and rolled the window down. That was when you used muscle power to get the windows up and down. As "Barney" walked by he looked in, paused, shook his head and walked on. Fourth of July we always had a Fireman's Fair Parade and the fair continued the rest of the week. No fast food, we ate at home or went to Richmond or Charlottesville. Those days are gone now with the "progression" into a fast food society. Chain grocery store, 2 fast food, pizza, 4 filling stations and no 'service' stations. 4 traffic lights. A fleet of sheriff's cars and still not enough. Several town policemen. Yes, we had our own Mayberry. I still have lots of friends there and will be making a trip back in about 4 weeks to visit and put flowers on my parent's graves. My Mayberry is gone, but the spirit lives on in the lives of the old timers who still speak and wave. If only it could live forever. Welford, theCameraNut...... **************Plan your next getaway with AOL Travel. Check out Today's Hot 5 Travel Deals! (http://pr.atwola.com/promoclk/100000075x1212416248x1200771803/aol?redir=http://travel.aol.com/discount-travel?ncid=emlcntustrav00000001) _______________________________________________ WBMUTBB mailing list [email protected] http://www.mayberry.com/tagsrwc/wbmutbb/
