Just been reminded...
...of this interesting fellow.

A friend from work, about my age (22), doing the same job (IT helpdesk). There the similarity ends. I rent my own flat. He lives with his parents. I cook my own meals, do my own cleaning, washing, washing up, pay my bills, pay my tax. His mummy does all that for him.

One day, he expressed disgust at the wonderful (and cheap) fresh veg I had just bought from the outdoor market across the road from the office. "It's been outside where birds can crap on it and rain get get on it. It's unhygenic". He failed to understand that the veg was CREATED in a far dirtier place, and had most likely had faeces spread over it. I think he didn't realise that you wash your veg before eating it because, of course, mummy does all that for him.

We set him a challenge; I bought a carrot from Morrisons and another from the market. We prepared them both identically: washed, cut up, presented to him on two plates. He was to pick which he thought was the squeaky-clean Morrisons carrot, and which the horrible, dirty market carrot. He looked at them, smelled them, tasted them, and firmly declared the tastiest one the Morrisons one.

Of course, I lied. Both carrots were from the market.

One day he's not going to live with his parents. He'll find that his clothes don't magically clean themselves, that electricity, water and gas doesn't come for free, and that getting your veg shrink-wrapped in plastic from the supermarket isn't worth it. Because, at the end of the day, you're paying extra to have the supermarket wash your veg for you, and I would rather trust my own hands and my own sink than their mystery methods.

Oh dear, now I sound picky!
(Musuko, Tue 6 Mar 2007, 9:59, Reply)