Cookie Man cookies, or what are now Mrs Field's Cookies, remind me of my grandfather.
I spent a lot of time with my grandparents growing up as a young child. Mum's parents lived in a neighbouring suburb, in the ubiquitously named Sunshine Avenue, Warradale, which remains a few hundred metres from Marion Shopping Centre on land that used to be army barracks during World War II..
My grandparents were creatures of habit. While I was over at their place we'd go shopping, taking Hazel, my grandfather's treasured Volkswagen Bug. I would get into the back seat and sit in what is the boot over the rear engine. This, being the early seventies, Volkswagen was only starting to make a presence in the market after World War II. The vinyl and engine smells have never left me. The car was gifted to my aunt, then my cousin after Grandpa died. I had a ride in her before she was too old and decrepit to pass the Canberra registration tests. She still smelled the same.
At the time, Marion Shopping Centre was about a third the size it is now. John Martins down one end, Myer down the other, and a large number of food shops to the side. We would pick up their groceries for the week. As I said, they were creatures of habit.
Then we made the special stops.
The first one was Charlesworth Nuts. Anybody who has walked down Rundle Mall from King William Street will know the scent of roasting nuts as they pass what used to be the Darrell Lea chocolate shop. Charlesworth is still at Marion, the scent of roasting nuts still permeates that part of the shopping centre.
The second delicious smell came from The Cookie Man. Grandpa would buy a small bag of biscuits - mainly Harlequins - a butter biscuit with a colourful jube in the centre. And some Californians, with and almond on top, and maybe some Jewels, that had a Chocolate Freckle in the centre.
Cookie Man cookies seems to come out at odd times and places. They were front and centre at a beloved aunt's wake. Their presence was strangely comforting.
And today, after spending a final full day in the office, as I walked through the shopping centre near the office, there were Cookie Man cookies, taken over by the Mrs Fields franchise. And all of a sudden I was four-years-old again, sitting in the boot of my grandfather's old V-dub beetle named Hazel, which smelled of old vinyl and dust. There were no seatbelts or car seats back then.
I bought a couple of Harlequins for the trip home.
They're still wonderful.
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