My late father, Percy, spent every day of his working life with the builders’ merchants Quiggin and Company.

Back in the old days, Quiggin’s was situated in Lake Road, in Douglas.

If you take the time to stand in the centre of Tesco’s car park and look around, the whole footprint of what is now the supermarket building and car park, from Lake Road to the railway station, was where Quiggin’s timber yard once stood.

Quiggin’s was a large enterprise. It was family-owned and operated, and employed many local folk.

Percy lived in the family home in Shaw’s Brow. He attended lessons in Hanover Street School, in Lord Street, and started work in Quiggin’s in Lake Road when he left school. Probably when he was 14.

In fact, until he married his Irish bride and moved to Pulrose when he was 30, his circle of home, school and work was no more than half a mile.

He went to serve King and country as an aircraft mechanic during the war, but there was never a doubt that his job with Quiggin’s awaited his return to Lake Road.

He told the story many times of how he became a delivery driver. His boss had given him the job of loading the wagon with wooden boxes for a kipper curer in Peel.

Job done, the boss climbed into the passenger seat and told Percy to drive.

A steady run to Peel, some nifty reversing in the fish yards, a smooth trip back to Lake Road and Percy was promoted to driver.

A driver’s job in those days was heavy work. He would be given a list of the orders for delivery and would load up accordingly.

There were no built in hydraulic lifts fitted onto the wagon.

Forklift trucks on building sites were as rare as hens teeth, and motorised cranes were only seen in dreams.

Loading was hard work.

One of Percy’s favourite quotes was that he was surprised that the Isle of Man didn’t sink under the weight of his deliveries.

Quiggin’s was a major importer of building materials. They dealt with everything, from sheets of glass, to be cut to size, paint to be mixed to order and roofing slates and tiles for any building.

They regularly imported ship-loads of cement, and several times each year there would be the excitement of a Norwegian or Swedish-flagged ship, laden with timber to be processed and cut to size in Quiggin’s sawmill.

Douglas harbour was always busy. Everything that we needed came by sea.

The Steam Packet operated a fleet of passenger and freight vessels.

They had daily cargo deliveries that could be collected at the warehouse or delivered round the town to the shops or businesses by the small three-wheeled lorries, called Scammels.

There were coal boats, petrol tankers and LPG carriers. Whatever we needed, it would come by sea.

Every car, van or double decker bus, every tractor, trailer or motorcycle. You name it, it would have been shipped in.

The snag was that everything took time to arrive.

Then, side-loading car ferries, soon to be followed by Ro-Ro ships, had arrived.

Containers, trailers and lorries are shipped in daily from depots in the UK.

Times had changed. Quiggin’s became Tesco.

Town centres became takeaways and the Percys of yesterday, with his job for life, are now just memories.

No punchline this week, but sadly, another memory to be recalled.

Our dear friend Sheila Wright passed away after a long illness which she had bravely endured.

She was probably the kindest and most generous soul that we were blessed to know, and we enjoyed Sheila’s and husband Sonny’s company at many a convivial table.

Rest in peace.

A decade ago Pullyman - aka Michael Cowin - was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease, a condition that affects people in different ways. Michael discovered writing and Island Life is featuring some of his musings. Sometimes topical, sometimes nostalgic, read about life as seen through the eyes of Pullyman