Diane Stafford On Focus

Has Your Food Been Bitten By The Recession?

Has The Food You Buy Been Bitten By The Recession?

My girls have been asking, for over a month, for Sharwoods Puppadums, one of their favorite snacks, but they've not been in stock at our local supermarket for several weeks.

Anyway, on a recent trawl round the supermarket I spotted their timely return to the previously bare shelves, so added two packets of the plain variety into the trolley to please my little treasures.

There was at this point some serious hesitation!

Was this a case of imagination working overtime I wondered.

Hmmm... the price didn't appear to be smaller!

The puppadums themselves certainly did appear to be a lot smaller than previously though!

OK, it had been weeks since we last bought any, so let's just assume you are going bonkers Diane by imagining that they've reduced in size yet not price!

They remained in the trolley; the girls were going to get their snack after all!

The girls helped me unpack the shopping.  I think they were scrabbling to get to their snack really.

Anyhow, when they did get to the see through packages they both, simultaneously (they are twins btw), gasped a sharp intake of breath and exclaimed questioningly, and rather loudly, "OMG what's happened to the size of these?" 

Phew!  What a relief, it wasn't the old imagination after all.

There was a little speculative banter exchanged between us about the effect of the economic climate on the size of the food on our supermarket shelves lately. 

It appears to us that some of the food we buy has been bitten by the recession!

Now that we've located a recipe 'How To Make Poppadoms', we'll be making them at home from now on, although they won't be sun dried in Madras!

However, the puppadums/poppadoms are not alone.

Nope, this isn't an isolated 'inch loss' event. 

The poppadoms are in the very good company of a few other food products we normally buy. 

There's the in store baked loaf that seems to look a lot smaller yet surprisingly weighs the same, according to the label, (allegedly - reminder to self to actually weigh one). 

Then there's the cereals the kids like that we think is a lower weight, inside the usual sized box.  

And ... the girls reeled off several more recently noticed anecdotal examples.

Have You Noticed?

Is there a food manufacturing weight loss conspiracy going on?

Is this a move by food manufacturers, to 'trick' the cost conscious general public, in order to increase their profits by reducing product size rather than risking consumer revolt by raising supermarket prices?

Conspiracy or not, we'll be keeping our eyes open.

My kids love their food, so not much will be getting past them now!

And Finally

The girls thought that perhaps their snack item was out of stock for all these weeks (as part of a conspiracy theory):  "We reckon 'they' were hoping people would forget how big they were before and wouldn't notice they're much smaller now"

bless... hmmm could they be right?

Winter Wonderland for New Year

Firstly, Happy New Year and may you achieve everything you wish for in 2010,
you deserve it.

Winter Wonderland for New Year or Treacherous Traveling?

I'm sure that your answer will depend upon your perspective and personal experience!

If you're without electricity, internet access (worst nightmare) and you're stuck in traffic for hours trying to get to or from work. Or, if like many, you missed Christmas or New Year with your family due to planes, trains and all modes of transport freezing to a standstill, then perhaps you're not feeling so positive about the current "ice age".

If, however, you're in this part of Cheshire, you may have been feeling a little left out over Christmas.  We certainly were, as everyone else in the UK was having snow 'dumped' on them day after day, whilst we had a smattering of the stuff, which melted pretty quickly!

No Longer Left Out of The Cold on Our Own!

Yes, we finally got some of the fluffy white stuff, although we had to wait until this week for it to arrive.

As you can see from the above photo, the round hole is my outside fire pit by the way, we didn't actually get very much, well not compared to virtually everywhere else.

There was enough snow to cause mayhem on the roads, enough to close the local schools for a day and enough of the stuff to get people talking incessantly about the weather, a popular talking point for us Brits.

In this part of Cheshire, we've had just enough snow to be able to get out in it, throw snowballs at each other in the garden, play snow angels and take long crunchy walks in it, whilst being warmed by the bright winter sun. 

In fact it's been a winter wonderland for us.

We are waiting for more, with fingers crossed that the electric stays on, the broadband remains live and the gas doesn't run out!

Wherever you are keep safe and warm.

All the very best for 2010

How Will Alan Sugar Sweeten Politics for Business

Having avoided the TV reports all day yesterday, I caught a little of this mornings report and I must say I'm feeling a little more optimistic, especially after writing yesterdays article about Poor Gordon Brown I'm Starting to Feel Sorry for Him

Why?

Well, because there was Alan Sugar, looking a little uncomfortable, in front of the news camera, as he outlined his new role.

Unless you've been hiding under a rock, which is where I normally am when it comes to politics, you will know Sir Alan Sugar is the business brain behind The Apprentice  BBC Program and of course is an entrepreneur and guru in his own right.

He's also highly respected as a business and enterprise leader... and don't you just love the fact that he's a little rough around the edges :) (does that add to his street cred?)

The question is: How will Alan Sugar Sweeten Politics for Business?

As the Government's new business and enterprise champion, Sir Alan will, as part of his new role, be reviewing why banks are not lending to small and medium sized businesses; be reviewing the challenges SME's face and hopefully find a solution to build mutual confidence that will help sustain viable SME's in these difficult economic times... and no doubt he'll be doing much more.

Sir Alan may 'just' be an advisor but he gets my vote, and jolly good luck to him.  Goodness knows small and medium sized businesses in this country need some support and action by someone who does at least know what they are doing.

It didn't take long before shadow MP's suggested that Sir Alan has a conflict of interest because he presents a television show and that he can't possibly do and be paid by both! 

I imagine that Shadow Ministers will resign their paid advisory roles for large Commercial organisations then!  For reasons of transparency of course.

All this political mudslinging could bore us to death, but hopefully not before we see some positive results from the guidance and advice of Sir Alan. 

We'll have to watch this space....

If Sir Alan gets stuck sorting the banks out he could always try the suggestion laid out in the letter to Dear Mr Darling - hope he sends me mine first though?

How Would YOU Sweeten Politics for Business?

Poor Gordon Brown I'm Starting to Feel Sorry For Him

Poor Gordon Brown!

Well, you really can't escape politics at the moment can you!  I've been trying to and have even avoided the TV today.

Yet despite my urge to avoid the political  mayhem that is playing out around us right now, from the reports I have watched, read or heard, I'm finding myself feeling really sorry for Gordon Brown.

I normally try very hard to not have any form of political opinion, I do my best to avoid voting (shame on me)! I've yet to find a political party that puts the people of the country before the lining of their own pockets!

Yet as the credit crunch started to bite at the man and woman in the street, somewhat surprisingly I thought, Gordon Brown took the insightful initiative to tackle the expenses problem head on, some time before the uproar started. 

And who were the ones resisting and complaining about his proposed reforms? 

Ok it's not a scientific or statistical review of the situation but, there we were looking at a list as long as your arm of financial claims having been made against the public purse. Shock horror it looked to me like the Conservative party members tally outweighed the Labour party claims by thousands!  They were very much more extravagant claims from what I saw!

Oh my goodness Gordon what have you done!

I think he opened the school gates to let everyone run amok in the playground.  After all there were plenty of the little tykes, on all sides, desperate to divert public attention away from their individual and collective responsibility and accountability, for what had been accepted practice for years. 

And let's face it, why the heck would they want him to change what had been a comfortably profitable practice ... since the year dot! No previous PM had dared try this one.

Those with the most to pay back and those who might miss out in the future appeared to be the noisiest kids in the playground. 

It seemed to me that they were determined to deflect public scrutiny from themselves by whatever means they could think up.  When repayment cheque waving and the slapping of extravagant legs didn't reduce public outrage, who better to blame than the chap who started all this off.

After all 'how could he' be the best PM or leader if he was going to stop MP's from flipping their second homes a few times, having their trees trimmed, country manor gardens tended and ducks housed, in favour of preserving public funds to keep the man and woman in the street in jobs, in their only home or at least with food on their tables!

I guess it's understandable then that some felt the need to throw their designer handbags and other female 'window dressing' items at him. 

I guess it's understandable that those who hadn't had the chance to flip and claim anything and everything yet would want to get in (and him out) quickly whilst the going looked good.

I know I feel sorry for Gordon Brown - as if he hasn't got enough to contend with, without having to deal with these little tyke deflection tantrums.

I have to admire his tenacity to stand by his committment to continue his term in office, make reform and serve the public - and I really do wish him every success as it's in all our interests that he does succeed, isn't it?

I still hate the childish self preservation antics that pervade the political playground.

I'm highly unlikely to change my ways by voting for any of them any time soon...

... unless!

Do you feel sorry for Gordon Brown?

Dear Mr Darling

As you will know, all politicians in the UK are getting virtually everything wrong for the community, industry and the country at the moment. 

A friend sent me a copy of the letter below, and as I'm over 50, I think it's a pretty good idea!

Thanks to Helen H. for forwarding this very timely letter to the UK Chancellor of the Exchequer (as the Minister for Finance is called in the UK):

 

Dear Mr. Darling,

Please find below my suggestion for fixing Britain's economy.  Instead of giving billions of pounds to banks that will squander the money on lavish parties and unearned bonuses, use the following plan. You can call it the Patriotic Retirement Plan:

There are about 20 million people over 50 in the work force.  - Pay them £1 million apiece severance for early retirement with the following stipulations:

1) They MUST retire.  Twenty million job openings - Unemployment fixed.

2) They MUST buy a new British CAR.  Twenty million cars ordered - Auto Industry fixed.

3) They MUST either buy a house or pay off their mortgage - Housing Crisis fixed.
4) They must send their kids to school / college /university - Crime rate fixed

5) Buy £50 of alcohol / tobacco a week there's your money back in duty / tax etc

It can't get any easier than that!

P.S. If more money is needed, have all members of parliament pay back their falsely claimed expenses and second home allowances

If Mr Darling chooses to act on this, I just hope he waits a month.  Yes, indeed, you have correctly calculated.   I am taking the week Jun 24-30 off.
Have a good month of June; enjoy the long evenings ... 

An ideal sunshine retirement holiday on the beach me thinks :)

What's your suggestion for fixing Britain's economy?

credits: to original author "unknown"

Pay it forward ~ in 2009

Pay it Forward in 2009?

A reminder of the pay it forward ideology, perhaps a little timely inspiration for 2009 as the world goes through these challenging times.

Is it possible?

Can you pay it forward to someone today?

The Pay it forward website

If you believe you can, you will!

Have a great day
Diane

LHC Twitter Day

Twitter has been tinkling its tweet bell all day.

LHC Twitter Day began with the early morning warnings of the black hole experiment.

Jeremy a brighta kind of guy got into the big bang theory fairly early this morning. 

In fact he just about beat me to the live coverage - I felt the Gordon Ramsey 'F' word coming on! (where did I read that) :-)

Having decided to take the morning off to pamper myself, because I deserve it and especially as I plan to look my best as the world comes to an end,  I watched some of the live coverage and was disappointed to discover that the "dangerous" potential black hole experiment was not actually happening today!

I continued with the pampering regardless.

Of course if I had paid more attention to the news or the LHC website I would have been aware of that point. It's a good job I didn't as I may not have taken the morning off for 'me time'.

It would appear that Paula was just as misinformed as myself, although she had good excuse as she has been on a Florida whirlwind holiday and wasn't feeling her best due to picking up a bit of a bug and suffering from jet lag.

Imagine feeling that bad on your last day of the Universe!

Shannon Cole on the other hand was stomping around wondering whether to do market research or go out for ice-cream - hmmm, didn't catch which of these options he took action on.  However he did find a brilliant update "has the large hadron collider destroyed the world yet"  - to see the amusing side of this you need to "View Source Code" and read the behind the scenes comments.

As you can see, we are all still here to tell the tale.  And as Shelagh pointed out this evening in the later LHC Twitter Day messages:- "interesting - especially because they aren't actually doing the "dangerous" high energy collisions till the end of the year. Today is fluff!"

If you want to achieve some balance in your life whilst you have one, check out Shelaghs' Wheel of Life.

Let's close today's message from this LHC Twitter Day with Simon, a creative mind I quote: "Was the universe created by scientists experimenting 13.7 billion years ago?"  An interesting idea Simon, is there a scientific cartoon yet?

Life is too short - enjoy every day as if it is your last.

What would or WILL you do on the last day of the Universe?

Diane
A Mother Dragged from Arts and Crafts Store

Living in a Mad World

A few things to ponder on this evening in this Mad World.

How Lucky are you? A Mum with Kids Living in a Mad World

Lynne Franks Escapes Jungle

Lynne Franks Escapes Jungle!

A lot has been said in the press about Lynne Franks, about her clashes with Janice and the boys (Rodney & John), however I think her biggest triumph was overcoming her creepy crawly fears. 

Lynne says: "I faced my bushwacker trials with a calm, cold focus which surprised me. The trials were all much tougher than they looked and were quite disgusting. I blocked out the rats, snakes, scorpions, eels, toads and all kinds of other creepy crawlies that I met when down the sewer so I could find the stars to feed the camp.

Being set up as lunch for a group of hungry ostriches and putting some nasty bugs in my mouth seemed almost easy compared to entering the man hole and facing all my phobias in the dark. Ugh!! I really think I must have been out of my body completely to have come out of that still sane."

You can read more about Lynne's jungle experience here.

I doubt very much that I would have been quite so calm as Lynne.  I'd probably have been as 'squeeky' as Janice - and camp companions would have starved!

Well done Lynne

regards

Diane Stafford

Biotechnology foils car thieves and feeds kids

Biotechnology is now being used to foil car thieves and kids use it to pay for their school dinner choices.

A Stansted based car hire firm is thumb printing customers.  Not surprisingly they haven't had a car stolen since the introduction of this biotechnological technique.

Kids are able to make school dinner choices on screen and 'pay' by thumb print.  The school can monitor their meal choices to ensure they are receiving a healthy and balanced diet.

The advances in technology of course offer us some fabulous  practical applications which may make lives easier or property secure and I for one can't wait for the abolition of the 'card' pin numbers. 

It must be an age thing trying to remember which pin number goes with which card!

Yet what are the potential pitfalls with these new systems and applications?

Kids healthy eating habits may be monitored and it may encourage them to eat better food, yet what will be done if the results show less than healthy food consumption?

It's great to find this system is protecting property from thieves, yet will it protect other types of property or valuables and deter the criminal element?

Will the pin number be abolished along with the fear of someone hacking your pin to be replaced with a fear of 'baddies' hacking your thumb off!

Right, back to work, have a great day.

The dilemmas of progress.