I have just paid a quick visit to my local Summerfields as I discovered that my milk had gone off. I witnessed a very interesting piece of contemporary ignorance with regard to the "five-a-day" of fruit and veg we are requested to eat (btw; in most other countries it is more like 9 or even 12 a day).
An elderly man was in the fruit and veg section and he was clearly having some difficulty. He wanted turnips but he couldn't identify a turnip. So he asked the lady who came and stood by him if she could describe the turnip so he knew what to look for; or if she had seen any turnips. Now this lady was middle-aged and middle class so I assume her to be well educated. But she couldn't identify the turnip either. So together they both found the shop worker who had on his badge Fresh Produce department head. But no, he couldn't identify what a turnip looked like either. !!!! In fact, as I pointed out to all of them, no, they don't have any turnips today.
Now, I don't know about you but I am rather interested in what other people put in their baskets. I felt rather sorry for the young lady behind me in the checkout. She had bought three packets of chill readymeals - chicken casserole. They were, she told me for Sunday dinner for herself, boyfriend and boyfriends' parents!!!! A chicken casserole has got to be one of the easiest meals one can prepare, and very nutritious. It makes me think that the recent government announcement to teach cooking skills in secondary schools can't come before time. Cooking, together with basic money management and budgetting skills have got to be the most necessary of life skills for all young people to learn.
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