The Road back to normal life will be a long one...

Wherever in the world you might be reading this, you won't need me to tell you that these are dark and uncertain times we find ourselves in. There are few corners of the globe that have not been hit by Coronavirus to some extent. It has changed the day-to-day lives of billions of people and had a devastating effect on lives, livelihoods, communities, healthcare systems and economies. How long everyday life will be put on hold for, no-one quite knows. Here in the UK, like many countries, we are now effectively under a lockdown, after a fortnight or so of seeing fears and precautions grow little by little - perhaps too slowly, and perhaps we will pay for that in the long term.

The more stringent measures do seem to be having the required effect, with people staying at home, and observing 'social distancing' when out in public, and even the panic-buying seems to have subsided, or at least the supermarket shelves are staying full for longer than they were. We're so used to supermarkets always being able to give us an enormous amount of choice as to what we buy and eat, that when that is no longer the case, it feels hugely disconcerting.

One day last week, after returning from several shops that had been stripped of toilet paper, long-life foods and cleaning products, I saw a homeless person shuffling along, pushing their possessions in an old trolley, and was suddenly reminded of Cormac McCarthy's 2006 novel The Road. It felt like the end of times. I had to put some happy music on when I got home, to remind myself that it isn't.

Ho, ho, hearts of palm

My last post was somewhat more from the heart than is customary for me - which leads seamlessly on to this one, concerning a tin of...Hearts of Palm.

Old label

New label

I'd bought this one quite some time ago - so long, in fact, that they've changed the label design since - but only tried it very recently, in an attempt to use up some of the more out-of-date specimens in my cupboard. Green Giant are of course best known for their sweetcorn, and the iconic chuckle/jingle which has featured in their adverts for donkey's years, but they do also produce a few speciality products, of which the hearts of palm is one. The company's website suggests describes them as "a tender and mild delicacy from the heart of the palm tree. Try them in salads, on pizza, or served with antipasto." I can't believe they're a very big seller; a tin seems to retail at about £2.40 whichever supermarket you go to, which isn't cheap for tinned veg. I think I must have got mine when the whole Green Giant range was on offer somewhere.

Can-do Attitude

Oh, hello there! As you may know, it's not uncommon for me to start my blogposts remarking upon how time has flown, and apologising for not having posted anything for ages. And this one is no different. Somehow, it's been over a year since I last wrote, despite my best intentions at the time, and again at the start of 2020, to turn over a new leaf and post more often.