Another Thing Found..............

........when sorting prior to moving.

As well as the memory stick mentioned the other day I also found this newspaper cutting. I don't know  why on earth I'd kept it but it was so interesting to look at the prices. 

Many of the items listed were well known brands  although I'm sure supermarket own brands were available and would have been cheaper. I think the cutting must have come from a  newspaper that our neighbour used to pass onto us for fire-lighting so maybe the Telegraph, which might explain the named brands!

It made me wonder what had changed in the intervening 14 years. Had to investigate..............

Near as possible comparisons, I took the prices from the Tesco website and noted how some things had shrunk.

• Bread Warburtons 800g       £1.40                                UP
• Bananas  1kg                 £1.10                                 UP
• 1kg apples around £1.80                                           UP
• 1kg onions 95p                                                          UP 
• 1 kg carrots 75p                                                          DOWN 
• Cucumber 99p                                                           UP 
• 6 Tomatoes   69p                                                        DOWN                                                                                                                                                        
• 2.5kg potatoes £1.29                                                 DOWN
• 4 Pints semi skimmed milk £1.75                            UP 
• 12 medium free range eggs  £2.95                            UP 
• 400g Cathedral City Cheddar.................. now 350g = £3.50 (Same price?)    Different weight
• 500g Minced Beef between £3.50 and £5                UP 
• 900g Birds Eye Frozen peas................ now 800g  £2.25   UP  Different weight
• 4 cans Heinz tomato soup £3.75                                UP
• Dolmio Bolognese sauce 750g........... now 675g = £3 UP         Different weight
• 520g Branston Pickle .....now 360g.............. £2.20 UP            Different weight
• 1kg Granulated Sugar £1.09                                     UP
• 750g Kelloggs Cornflakes................. now 670g = £3.55             Different weight UP
• 500g  De Cecco Fusilli pasta  75p                       There was no branded comparison                                         
• 1kg Tilda basmati rice £5                                           UP
• 100g Nescafe Gold Blend Coffee.............now 95g £3.90 Different weight  UP
• 1Litre Princes Orange Juice ......Tesco 1Lt £1.50 No branded comparison    UP

Total in 2026  = £50.46  and 470g less total weight.

With carrots and potatoes being down in price it's probably farmers  taking that cut.

I think another list but using Aldi own brands wouldn't have seen so many price increases. If I had enough enthusiasm I would work it all out....................but I haven't!

 

St Martin's Day and Armistice Day

 Armistice day and St Martins Day or Martinmas. Appropriately St Martin is the patron saint of soldiers.

Martin was born into a Pagan family before his baptism in AD 354 which followed a vision of Christ he experienced after sharing his cloak with a beggar. He became Bishop of Tours in AD 371 and died in AD 397 when November 11th was his burial date. His cloak became a sacred relic which was stored in a special chapelle  or capela (from the Latin cappa meaning cloak). The English word Chapel comes from this.

 Many weather sayings in November are linked to St Martins Day.

Wind north-west at Martinmas, severe winter to come

If on Martinmas it is fair and cold then winter will not last long

If the wind is in the south-east at Martinmas it will remain there until after Christmas

Another spell of glorious sun

Should with St Martin's season come.

Armistice Day marked the end of the Great War from 1918 to 1939 with two minutes silence at the 11th hour on the 11th but then after WWII the main observance moved to the nearest Sunday to the 11th and called Remembrance Sunday.

 Remembrance Sunday in the 80's always seemed to be cold because those were the years we took the Cub Scouts to Bacton church for the Remembrance Service which involved standing outside, without coats, at the war memorial in the churchyard. Everyone else had coats but people in uniform didn't ........... actually maybe it was just me freezing - children never seem to feel the cold. 

London looked foggy for this years service ............. Novembers now seem much milder.

Since the mid 90's the two minutes silence on the 11th was revived and observed as well as the Sunday services in Churches and at the Cenotaph.

In Flanders fields the poppies blow

Between the crosses row on row

That mark our place; and in the sky

The larks, still bravely singing, fly

Scarce heard among the guns below.

John McCrea -'In Flanders Fields' 1915

A Happy Find

 When I was sorting  a box full of newspaper cuttings, greetings cards and other old bits of paperwork to make room for things that really did need keeping ready for moving  I found the memory stick that Colin had put all the canal photos onto. I'd completely forgotten he'd done this. We spent several holidays between 2004 and 2012 travelling to various parts of the country where he tried to find the exact spot to take photos of canal bridges etc, comparing them to the old photos in a Francis Frith book.

I don't have the book anymore, it made me sad to see it and know what we missed, as this was one of the things he wanted to carry on with after retiring. But now, 8 years on, finding the memory stick was a lovely surprise. I've added it for safe keeping to his memory box which has all sorts of bits in it for our children and grandchildren to keep.