I cannot understand the need to make gummy candies into animals. Liquorice is not messed about with – it’s extruded and it looks like what it is: a tube. Jelly babies aren’t made to look like babies; they’re little egg-shaped blobs. Why the need to make gummies into creatures?

I realised why I had this revulsion this morning. I love a certain brand of gummies from Australia. They are ginger flavoured. I take them to work not only because I like them, but because I don’t have to be afraid of them disappearing off my desk. Ginger, for some reason, is a flavour that most people don’t care for. I can’t, for the life of me, understand it; but it works for me. The problem that I have is that I can’t let my hands gets sticky at work, so I stick a toothpick into them to pick them up. You can see where this is leading, right? (more…)

Okay, here’s a heads up: don’t believe everything you read in the New York Times. There’s an article in the 9 October edition of the Times, that proselytises the concept of potty training babies. They have a picture of a mother with her infant on the loo. Mum is looking away from camera; child has an expression that can best be described as, “My Mummy’s crackers, save me!”

You might ask why I had such an immediate and visceral reaction to this story. Well, you see, my Mum tried to potty train me at 3 months. Again you might ask why. Yes, there’s a story. (more…)