So I found out yesterday that popular fashion designer Alannah Hill (no, me neither) was not only born in Geeveston, here in Tasmania, but her parents owned the world famous Penguin milk bar. Now, this was on Wikipedia, so there's a better than average chance it was complete rubbish and tomorrow it will say she got her big break at the Geeveston show when she won best pig in show, but it is really interesting to think that someone made it out from under the oppression of running the family business (believe me, you don't want that) to fulfil their dreams, even if it was via running away and joining the circus. And to think, it must have been HER parents that were the Golden Gaytime Gigglers...
It's interesting to me that this is a blog essentially about local pride, and i haven't taken the time to talk about the local shop. Now, this isn't referring to, say, the big Coles Supermarket or a thinly disguised franchise "with the same old owners", I'm talking about Cut Price Sams, or the local milk bar, or even the local newsagency. I don't think it seems as important down here as it does on the NW Coast, because in Penguin it was really frowned upon to travel into Burnie and shop at Roelf Vos, when there was a local store run by local people. My local store here in Kingston isn't thought of in the same way - in fact, to be honest, it's really weird. Since I've lived there, it's had about 15 different owners. I don't want to get all Pauline Hanson on everyone, but all 15 owners have been Greek, and I think there's some sort of immigration thing going on with it, either that or it's a great way to have a holiday, come and run the shop for 6 months. The main and only reason I like it is that it is the only place in Tasmania you can get the energy drink Viper, which I suspect is banned or something given I can't find it anywhere else in the whole state. And when I first moved down there they had one of the greatest front of store paint jobs I've ever seen - a twisty auburn cartoon snake that should have painted in a museum, but it's certainly not part of the local community, although it does seem to be a gathering point for some of the creatures of the night. Hooded tops, blank expressions, armed with sticks. You know the kind...
Anyway, Penguin Milk Bar was a fantastic little shop. It was always the place you went when you got a treat, having been good at Swannies hairdressers when he was chopping your locks off (or in my case, after he cut my ear), or were feeling sick or were tired after running along the beach. The main thing I remember about it was the delicious frothy chocolate milkshakes that I always ended up ordering. I think it's because I always got a frothy chocolate milkshake when I was good and well behaved, and it was important for teaching me how to manipulate the system to my advantage. So I learned to accentuate my achievements, cut out the negative parts and not discuss my failures - in other words, lie - and it was all for the sake of a chocolate milkshake. I also loved the way adults interacted at the post office, kids interacted at the milk bar, or at least, at the post office with their parents looking at the milk bar and trying to get mum to shut up so they could get an ice cream. I also think it was the only place in Penguin that had a coin operated video game. I might be wrong on this, but I think nowhere else (except maybe the laundrette) that had Frogger, so it was very trendy. They had some really funky furniture as well, the kind of straight backed design that you just don't get these days. No stools in Penguin Milk Bar, oh no. Everyone had a proper seat. And that's before I get to how many chips you got for 10c...
In a town as small as Penguin (and yes, I do have a point, this isn't just "remember when chips were 10c a bag" nostalgia) the local store really mattered, and it was always the first place that was decorated when the football team made the Grand Final. However, at some point, they put in the Dial Arcade, a sort of shopping mall that was meant to represent the future. I don't know how well it worked, because we moved out of Penguin roughly around the time it opened, so I didn't see the rise and fall of the initial investment buzz. It was the last gasp of 80s risk and reward, and I have no idea what's still there or if it's still open, I just remember it opening. And what I remember the most is that one of the stores had this exotic, exciting ice cream store, with bright lighting and funky music. Someone told me that it was the second place in the entire world that had a machine where you could take, say, a flake, and have it crushed up and put into the ice cream. Imagine the future, mango ice cream with a crushed up bit of flake in it. Take that, Iphone generation. I really believed it, and was so excited that our little town had this magical machine with it's delicious flavour maker, and it was really hyped up. The problem was - it was awful. For some reason, it really was disgusting no matter what combination of flavour you tried to create. It was a wonderful metaphor for what everyone really thought about Penguin - a local town, for local people, with local pride and local ideas. No big city flavour makers were required. Don't bring your flashy Milan based designs to our yard thanks very much. Chocolate, Vanilla and Strawberry, that's all we need. No wonder everyone went back to the local milk bar, where things were as they always were.
I wonder what they'd make these days of Cans of Viper and hooded youths hanging outside the milk bar in Penguin...actually, I know what they'd think, it's the same as they told the recent developers...
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