The Musings Of An Opinionated Sod [Help Me Grow!]


Crisp Inflation …
October 28, 2013, 6:10 am
Filed under: Comment

Look, I know I’m old.

I also know I have been living away from England for the past 20 years.

However, when I was back in Nottingham a few weeks ago, I was utterly shocked when I saw this.

For my international ‘friends’, my shock isn’t because the UK has a crisp brand called ‘Snaps’.

Or that they have a shit dragon on the front of the pack.

It’s not even that they’re ‘spicy tomato flavoured’.

No, it’s because they cost 39 pence.

THIRTY NINE PENCE!!!

Now I know to some of you, 39p is hardly the end of the World – and I suppose in the big scheme of things, it isn’t – however I remember when Snaps were the ‘cheap crisps’, where a packet of Spicy Tomato or Tasty Cheese would set you back a whole 7p … which was a good 3 pence cheaper than a packet of Walker’s Cheese and Onion, so to see them now at 39 pence is a massive shock to the system.

Yes, I appreciate the price I’m remembering is over 30 years ago, but a 557% price increase is insane, especially when their other ‘cheap crisp’ competitor – Space Invaders – is still, as it always was, only 10 pence.

Actually, the fact it has maintained it’s price over 30 years is an even scarier fact now I come to think of it.

Anyway, while it’s always wonderful to have a rendezvous with a treasured part of your history [yes, I did really say a once cheap crisp brand was a treasured part of my past, deal with it!] nothing reminds you how old you’re becoming than a dose of price nostalgia.

Yes, I know it’s pathetic that I’m moaning like a bastard about a packet of crisps costing 39 pence … especially when I think nothing about spending 100 quid on a robot ball.

That I’ve only used once.

ONCE.

But [1] that’s the sort of screwed up individual I am and [2] that’s the sort of pointless rubbish I write on this blog.
______________________________________________________________________________

PS: Talking of crisps, when I was in the UK, I got a delivery – via a courier – of a family pack of pickled onion flavoured Monster Munch.

My absolute favourite.

And do you know who sent them to me?

The very lovely – and a bit suspect – John Dodds.

I know … and I’m not even an impressionable, hot 21 year old babe!

He claims it was a [very] late birthday present … personally, I don’t care why he sent them … the fact is they’re the ultimate. Yes, even better than Spicy Tomato Snaps or Walkers Cheese and Onion.

Sadly I couldn’t eat them at the time, but the good news [for me] is that they’re so full of chemicals and e-numbers, they’ll still taste fresh when I’m next in the UK.

That is if my Mum doesn’t throw them out thinking – quite rightly – they’re a weapon of intestine destruction.


32 Comments so far
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Looks like Dodds is trying to groom you Rob. Be careful. Has he asked you to email him any photos of you yet and call him daddy?

Comment by Billy Whizz

Gold. Libelous, but gold.

Comment by DH

I was trying to poison him and it would have worked if it hadn’t been for his pesky new health regime.

Comment by John

This has become an episode of blog scooby doo.

Comment by DH

Judging by John’s admission of guilt, Billy wasn’t being libellous, he was being the blog version of Miss Marple.

Comment by Rob

This isn’t your typical pointless rubbish Rob. This is a new low in your pointless rubbish so it was worth writing. Not worth reading though.

Comment by DH

If snaps are 39p, how much are sherbet dibdabs or cola cubes?

Comment by DH

Is this a new coding language that I have never heard of? Or are you a spy for the NSA and you are setting up a secret drop through the comments on this blog? That would be a smart move because no foreign government agency would suspect information of value would be on here.

Comment by Bazza

You wouldn’t understand. It involves real life.

Comment by DH

But does it still have the piece of liquorice?

Comment by Pete

I hope we all had a minute’s silence in honour of Brian Sollitt.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/10305680/Brian-Sollitt.html

Comment by Pete

A hero in confectionary.

Maybe I’m wrong, but I swear I heard they’re bringing back some of my childhood favourites … like Curly Wurly’s and the Twix rip-off, Drifter.

The big issues get covered on this blog don’t they.

Comment by Rob

You are a unique individual Rob.

Comment by Bazza

I remember when spicy tomato was the new flavour, but then you are a whippersnapper Rob.

Comment by George

That’s tragic George, even for you.

Comment by Rob

Agreed.

Comment by George

Your favorite is… Pickled onion flavoured Monster Munch. Fuck me, I dread to think what your least favorite is.
Cheers/George

Comment by adscamgeorge

Why George, what’s your favourite. Please don’t say ‘ready salted’, that would break my heart.

Comment by Rob

Rob… Tripe & Onion. The way my old Mum used to cook everything… Boil it for three days to make sure it’s dead and completely fucking tasteless… Yes, she was Irish!
Cheers/George

Comment by adscamgeorge

no spuds?

Comment by andy@cynic

on the fucking bright side, it explains campbells fucking breath. can paint strip a jumbo jet from 100 miles.

Comment by andy@cynic

39p is cheap. You can’t get anything under 50-70p in supermarkets these days.

Comment by Andreea

I love how you have managed to both sound young and old in the same comment. That’s a real talent.

Comment by Rob

You can’t beat Scampi Fries. That is all.

Comment by northern

i bet you were the sort of dirty bastard who would dip your fingers in a packet of the fake fish bullshit, get your mates to smell them and claim youd been up to no fucking good with the town bike. is that how you became known as the casanova of wherever the fuck youre from. no wonder youre a planner. planner pervert.

Comment by andy@cynic

Even I have to admit that’s gold.

Comment by northern

However, I have to say your comment does suggest some prior experience in this matter

Comment by northern

dont fucking try and sick me into your sick shit northern.

Comment by andy@cynic

Funny how the British always ate shit… Only now, they eat shit with exotic names in fancy packets… But it’s still shit. Gotta go, the tripe’s on the stove.
Cheers/George

Comment by adscamgeorge

what the fuck are you talking about? youll shit on kebabs next and the fucker who invented the bastards died yesterday so he deserves some respect. unless he died of food poisoning then he deserves a round of applause.

Comment by andy@cynic

I don’t know which is more off-putting, ‘Spicy Tomato Flavour’, or the green dragon on the pack. Either way, it would seem that you’re exaggerating the price hike by 100 percentage points. (I couldn’t help myself. 😉 )

Comment by fredrik sarnblad

says the man from the country that brought the world fucking roxette.

Comment by andy@cynic




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