Bemused

The pork & chorizo is plopping away. We’re having a casserole for dinner tonight. I’m still using up from the freezer. I haven’t done a big shop since before Christmas. We’ve had the odd bit of a top-up but the supermarket shelves have seemed too depleted to think of a big shop. This week will be early enough for that.

I’m back into jigsaws now the Christmas tree has been packed up & returned to the attic for another year. The one I’ve started is another on a nostalgia theme set in the 1950s. I duly find myself recognising faces long forgotten. There’s Eamonn Andrews, Tommy Steele, the young Elvis Presley, Marilyn Monroe, Jack Warner. Programmes, too, such as “The Lone Ranger”, “Dixon of Dock Green", "Watch with Mother”. The latest cars, brands such as Hillman & Sunbeam. Sweets such as Spangles. Enid Blyton books. Riding on a scooter without a crash helmet.

The single thing that most bemuses me is an advert – “Washing up has gone for good! COLSTON is here for every home”. This bemuses me on more than one count. Firstly, in 2020 washing up still remains a feature of daily life. When there is just two of you it’s hardly worth filling up a dish washer. If all you have to clean is a couple of plates or mugs, they might as well be done by hand. Colston I presume was a brand of dishwasher though the name means nothing to me which suggests it disappeared from the market long ago. Even now, in 2020, I know many a home without a dishwasher except for the human kind. Maybe life hasn’t advanced technically as quickly as expected.