Do you remember when .

A lot of people were amused about the marbles.  Well, I went back to the mall and bought 5 pouches more, so you can say, I really lost my marbles!  Another reader of our August 2 article also said it reminded him that products from China are really of low quality while the real Philippine-made is both durable and reliable.  I wouldn’t want to comment on that as it might escalate the current diplomatic impasse about that body of water between us.

I did mention about a rocking horse, which my parents bought from Villamor’s nearly 50 years ago.  It still exists, a little frayed on the edges, with patches of repairs made through those years, but still gave the same amusement to my 3-year-old son as it did to me when I was a year old then, the day it was bought from Villamor’s.  And not only to us but for many others – my sisters, and my nephews and nieces.  One is truly amazed how a thing as simple as a wooden toy can be delight to many, across the ages.  Probably because it was a work of love.

I received an email message a few days after that column saw print.  Miss Lara Villamor Constantino of Marco Polo said that rocking horse was one of the countless toys, which were her grandparents’ labor of love, “every toy hand-picked by my Lolo to ensure quality and durability.”  The store is long gone “but we still have the memories…,” she added.  It was actually “Villamor & Sons.”  My mother also added that the store did not only sell toys but children’s clothing as well, and she has old pictures of me wearing the apparel.  I am very sure that there are other Cebuano families in those times, who were blessed by Villamor & Sons - Cebu’s first children store established in the ’50s.  To the family, we say “Thank you!”

If we go back in time, what else can we see of the old Cebu which brings us fond memories of that day and age when we were little known by the rest of the world?  Unfortunately, we transferred to Negros when I was 5 and my next recollection of Cebu was when I came back here to study in college.  Ah yes! - jeepney fare was 30 centavos when I was in first year.  Best of all, after afternoon classes in CIT in N. Bacalso Ave., I usually ride a jeepney to Colon without getting down, continue with the return trip getting down near my boarding house in Mambaling, but still paying 30 centavos.  That’s how laidback life was in those days.

Or, if I don’t take the “round trip,” I walk the half kilometer to Mambaling, not just me but many other students.  Is it just the modern lifestyle, but I could no longer see students walking that distance nowadays.  Unless you are really in a hurry for your morning classes because you woke up late, nobody would think of riding a jeepney from Ma. Gochan St. to CIT in those days.  Maybe it’s a product of modernization but people don’t walk nowadays, it seems.

When we did get off in Colon, it is to pay a visit to Columbia Bargain House in Manalili St. where the first bump cars and arcade games were located at the 7th floor.  It’s no longer there now but it seemed all the students in Cebu flock to that area after classes in the late ‘70s.  Else, you can pass the time reading books or magazines at Ybañez Bookstore in Colon.  Yes, some readings are free though there are some items, which are for a fee – they also have stools for you to sit on.  I couldn’t remember the last time I read something in a sidewalk!

Many other names of stores are memories now but they represent the Cebu of old; some still exists but are maybe located in other parts of the city, or under another name.  One cannot forget Tinong’s, Elite Bakery, Snowsheen, Visayas Restaurant, or Manila Restaurant (originally in Manalili, too, but now called Manila Foodshoppe all over the city).  They are names from the past, but in one way or another, they helped shape what Cebu is now.