Possibly not my biggest ever disappointment, but I still feel the sadness
When I was a lad, the Saturday trip down to the post office to spend pocket money on sweets was quite an event. It was all proper, with glass jars full of sweets, and you'd ask for a quarter of what you wanted, and they'd be weighed out and put in a little white paper bag for you.

Somehow this added a certain something that the pre-packaged sweets like Spangles or Sherbet Fountains - nice though they were - just didn't have. It made it a bit special.

The Post Office stocked all the usual 1970s candidates - Cola Bottles, Flying Saucers, Aniseed Balls, Black Bullets, all that stuff, but my very favourite was the Kola Kube. If you don't recall them, they were about the size of a sugar cube, tasting vaguely like Coca Cola, and with a sort of soft centre that you got to if you managed to crack your way through the hard shell without cracking too many of your teeth in the process.

I loved them.

Now, this day of disappointment had started quite promisingly, because I was lucky enough to have a bit more than my usual 40p pocket money. I'm not sure how I managed this, but I think I may have had as much as a whole pound, which was quite something when you were seven years old.

And I resolved that I would celebrate this by having a double ration of my favourite Kola Kubes.

One slight problem: when asking for sweets, you always asked for "A Quarter" of them. Trouble was, I didn't know what it was a quarter *of*. Hmm. Well, I knew enough to know that two quarters make a half, so I went boldly up to the counter and brightly asked for "A half of Kola Kubes, please".

The Postmistress peered at me doubtfully over the counter.

"Do you mean 'Two Ounces'?"

Did I? Damned if I knew. But grown-ups know things like this, don't they?

"Yes, please".

Thirty years later, I can still feel the disappointment of standing outside that post office, peering sadly at my celebratory bag containing just three Kola Kubes. It wasn't quite the bumper bonanza I'd been hoping for, and I was much too shy to go back in and demand what I'd wanted.

There have been other, bigger disappointments since to be sure, but it looks like this one is going to stay with me. And to this day I have a distrust of Postmistresses.
(richardm, Tue 1 Jul 2008, 15:41, 8 replies)

I thought..
..that was very funny.

*click*

Nothing amuses me more than a gutted child.
( Boss Keloid Got your mother's maiden name tattooed on my arm, Tue 1 Jul 2008, 15:43, closed)

Hmm
Perhaps you should consider a career with the Post Office, Boss?
(richardm, Tue 1 Jul 2008, 15:55, closed)

Just think
Had you not been so mathemagically talented, you'd have probably asked for "two quarters" instead. Knowledge is dangerous.
(Vice Admiral Sir Charles Cockbrush KCB MBE DSO, who is finding it increasingly difficult to log into b3ta.com wants to duck your aunt and kick your puppy, Tue 1 Jul 2008, 16:18, closed)

Haha, aw!
This is just the sort of thing I would have done! And that includes the being too shy to go back in and get more.

*clicks*
(Professor Kenny Martin Hmm? What?, Tue 1 Jul 2008, 16:37, closed)

Love it

almosrt as much as I love Kola Kubes
( Naked Ape call me Caitlyn, Tue 1 Jul 2008, 16:50, closed)

I feel your pain
I remember doing this sort of thing...and the sheer broken-hearted disappointment....


And kola kubes were fantastic! You can still get them, but they never seem to taste the same.
( chickenlady b3ta's very own Elizabeth Taylor, Tue 1 Jul 2008, 18:21, closed)

I just got some Kola Kubes
from the old fashioned sweet shop up the road.
I was disappointed to find that they were not chewy inside.
( Mrs Entity is in hiding., Tue 1 Jul 2008, 18:28, closed)

Aww
that deserves a hug

and a click!
( ogwen69 has returned from Reddit, Wed 2 Jul 2008, 13:09, closed)