I spotted a new product in Waitrose today. Okay, not so much a new product as a new packaging of an existing product. At first, I was happy about it but my happiness soon turned to annoyance when I realised I couldn’t take advantage of it. Here’s the product:
Before we left for Sweden in January, we had our milk delivered in bottles from our milkman. I like the idea that the bottles are 100% recycled. Given we weren’t going to be back for very long, I decided to bite the bullet and go with the plastic.
The new carton from Yeo Valley would have been an excellent alternative. Even the lid is made of plant based material rather than plastic. Seeing this one was semi-skinned, I looked around for a whole milk version. Sadly, the semi-skimmed is the only one in the carton. If you want whole milk, you have to go with plastic. Ironic, really. I was faux shocked.
Something else that shocked me this morning was the fact that Park Row is once more open to traffic. The rat run is alive again. I had to avoid a couple of cars and a van on my way in and a few more on the way home. That was never two weeks. My previous elation had been returned to the usual, hard done by pedestrian, annoyance.
17 days to go
And, as a pedestrian, I was surprised to see a new poster in the park, highlighting the way cyclists should behave. In fact, I had a jolly good chuckle given the way the suggestions are not followed by the majority of bike riders on the all weather path.
Of greatest amusement was the final point regarding using a bell. Most cyclists in the park either don’t have a bell or are unable to use one. And as for ‘fast travel’…every day people have to leap to saving their dogs, small children and themselves from being run down.
Then, on my way home this morning, a couple of cyclists rode up from behind me and the woman in the front actually said “Passing on your left” in a pleasant yet informative voice. I said thank you through my dumbfoundedness.
This wasn’t the only surprising thing on my walk home. A young lad, who looked to be about 18 or 19, said good morning. He was wearing no electronics, he wasn’t looking at a phone, he even smiled. Generally, the young don’t actually see the old. I was pleasantly shocked.
