Because we have been resisting paying a fee to watch television series without advertisements we find ourselves subjected to incomprehensibly strange adverts for Domino pizza, Tui holidays, various makes of car and so on. Guardian columnist Emma Beddington has had a bit of a rant, link here, calling for adverts for gambling to be banned, as adverts for tobacco products were banned back in 2002, as Amsterdam has apparently banned adverts for meat and fossil fuel products. I am in total agreement with her. Are people really taken in by the glamourous world portrayed in adverts for gambling? I suppose people are still seduced by the chance of winning “the big one”.
If anything I am even more mystified by the adverts for bingo. I am aware that bingo seems to have become an exciting leisure activity but for me it remains the domain of elderly ladies in headscarves, not young women dolled up to the nines. And then, for me as a former modern foreign languages teacher it remains a game to be used with younger pupils to help them practise numbers in whichever language they have been studying.
On the subject of bans, here is a link to an article about the RyanAir boss calling for airports to stop selling alcohol outside of normal licensing hours. Some people, a disturbing large number of people, still believe that holiday binge drinking begins in the airport departure lounge, even if your flight is leaving at 8.00 in the morning or earlier. Consequently they are more than a little merry when they board the plane. Mr O’Leary reckons that his airline is having to divert an average of nearly one flight a day because of bad behaviour onboard, up from one a week 10 years ago. Oh dear!
Mind you, if the Iran-Israel/US conflict continues, the whole international travel business could well be disrupted. I read that Heathrow has already seen a drop in passenger numbers.
Will we find ourselves restricted to holidays in the UK, a prospect which seemed less inviting this morning when I went out running in a temperature os 5°! Decidedly “nippy”, as one of my nodding acquaintances commented.
Another problem on the horizon is the supply of foods from around the world, and the supply of the fertiliser needed to grow food in this country. Here’s a link to an article first published a couple of year ago about people needing to stockpile food and equipment in preparation for shortages.
And here’s a link to a more recent article on the same topic. Faced with climate change, war, social unrest, maybe we should all become “preppers”. Already Phil keeps suggesting items we should be buying in bulk when I do a supermarket shop. Maybe I should clear out cupboard space to store canned good and dried food. Maybe I should hunt out our old camping gas stove - stored in the shed since the last time we went camping when our offspring, now in their 40s, were teenagers!
In the meantime we continue with our daily routines, seeking out bits of beauty to distract us from the current chaotic state of the world. To that end, we made another expedition to the bluebell woods yesterday - in the rather warmer sunshine than we have today! We were rewarded with some rather fine displays.
Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!
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