Have you counted the number of coffee shops that there are in Douglas lately?

There must be dozens. I would think that there are at least six in Victoria Street alone.

It seems that, when it comes to having a cup of coffee, it really is a case of ’the choice is yours’. Mass market, exclusive, speciality, whatever.

We’ve come a long way from the days of plain old Nescafe and, wait for it, who can remember Camp Coffee?

This was a liquid mix of dark brown coffee flavoured syrup and chicory. Google, the oracle, tells us that it first appeared on the scene in 1878.

It was sold in slim glass bottles and is apparently still available in Tesco. This is a fact that I can never confirm because the only thing that I can definitely guarantee that you will never see in Tesco, is Pullyman.

But that’s another story.

In my early days, a favourite establishment for meeting and greeting your friends was the Herb Beer shop in Walpole Avenue in Douglas.

There were two of these establishments in Walpole Avenue.

One was ’Blackburns’ and this was our favourite and choice of meeting place on Sunday afternoons.

Long before our motoring days, and driving licences, our transport was two-wheeled, our beer was non-alcoholic, our drug was nicotine and our lust was unrequited.

I have few social recollections of coffee bars or cafes with one exception. Felices.

Felices, from memory, owned two cafe establishments in Douglas. One in Castle Street and one in Strand Street.

It was a family business that specialised in ice creams of such exotic proportions that they were way beyond the pocket of someone from Pully.

Felices were equally well known for their summertime ice cream kiosks on Douglas Promenade, and who could forget the ladies with the ice cream trays who would appear as if by magic during the interval at the picture house?

However, as interesting as the subject of ice cream might very well be, we were supposed to be discussing coffee.

The connection with Felices was that the first posh coffee that I tasted was in their Castle Street cafe, one Sunday afternoon, a very long time ago.

I remember that the coffee machine made an impressive amount of steam and noise and the coffee was served to the customer in a clear, see-through cup and saucer.

Now that was what I call posh.

Fast forward to the present day and guess which two inventions that have changed our lives forever?

No, it’s not the jumbo jet air liner or the television set, or hundreds of other logical ideas.

It is the insulated plastic coffee cup and the iPhone.

These two indispensable objects are the reason why the human animal has two hands.

If you have the patience to wait to be served in a particular large coffee shop in Douglas, just look around, look at your fellow ’queuers’ and ask yourself the rhetorical question.

’Just how did we manage to live without coffee and telephones?’

Who cares? What I would really like to know is how did someone think of the idea of selling ice cream in the intervals at the cinema?

It came in little paper tubs with a little wooden spoon. Happy days.

And do you remember the kiosk in the foyer that sold sweets, crisps and, can you believe, cigarettes?

All this and fish and chips to eat on the bus back to Pully.

It beats fancy coffee hands down.

And how about this? Can you remember the little brass ashtrays that were screwed to the back of the cinema seat in front of you.

Yes, smoking was permitted in the pictures.

There won’t be many folk who remember that.

Some time 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