Neil Leadbeater
Buying Apples from Mr Aldridge
Buying apples from Mr Aidridge was easy in the ‘fifties
dessert or culinary,
you simply took whatever he had: a Cox’s Orange Pippin
or a heavy cropping Bramley Seedling
there was not much else to choose from
no D’ Arcy Spice or Laxton’s Fortune;
nothing fancy then.
I’d watch him place the black weights
squarely on the scale.
For a brief moment he’d hold the hoard of orchards
sunlit from the pail.
His smile was the seal on our purchase.
It weighed in his favour. It was the kind of courtesy
that was made for business. The look that
sent out a signal that he’d go that extra mile.
Everywhere I went I learnt to keep that smile.
Page(s) 27
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