I can understand, but don’t necessarily approve of young children having a piece of blanket that they carry to give themselves security. In my early days I don’t remember children having bits of cloth, rather a heavily damaged soft toy, often a gollywog. The learning curve for a very young child is exceptionally steep. We all know that to all intents and purposes, their brain is like a very clean, pristine piece of paper, and every day, information is printed on it, which the child has to assimilate, understand and try to apply. To me, the piece of blanket serves a purpose, but it doesn’t add anything to the sheet of paper. I believe it would be much better if the piece of cloth were periodically, and gently changed, so that the child would become accustomed to these changes and at the same time, discover subconsciously, things of beauty.

A child is accepting what is put before it, uncritically, because it has no comparison, and consequently, no choice. Choice has to be given by the adults with care and attention. When I was young, the books we were given were beautifully illustrated, and the characters had a gentleness about them that appealed to the children, and in fact still does. But what I’m finding on television programs, with children’s toys and children’s books, is a level of aesthetic that is based on economy rather than beauty. To draw a face with almost no features is quick and easy, as it is to make soft toys of the same ilk, but to my old mind, what should be offered to these children, is either things of beauty, or things that have a purpose, such as the difference between good and bad. I find it incredible that not only the children are being battered with these ugly representations, but adults are now being offered them in advertisements, because they’re so cheap in comparison to using a film crew. I have said before, that I find it crazy that people are swayed, to make serious and expensive decisions in their lives, by some drawn puppet.

American aesthetic has come into our lives via Skye, and the films that are being offered have nothing like the quality of those that were made 30 years ago, when actors spoke clearly, and the story was told more by the action than it was by speech, again this is a cutback for economy. The crime and action films now seem to be heralded at a level of mayhem, murder and gunfire that is totally beyond any possible level of occurrence. To find anything up to 10 dead bodies in the first five minutes of a film, is a gross, and giving the wrong impression to those young people who are easily impressed. Somehow, excess in every aspect seems to have risen to an unacceptable level. People are portrayed on film as being totally irrational in their behaviour, both in action and comedy films. They shout, gesticulate, slap one another on the back, and I believe that this is not scripted, but they’re given a rough scenario and left to get on with it, come what may, yet another economy. We shouldn’t be surprised to find youngsters with a Kalashnikov are cutting down kids and teachers in a school, it is, after all, their daily diet.

Over the years I have wasted a considerable amount of sauce, because the jars contain enough sauce for four people, and in those days we were only two. Now I’m living on my own I have had to take steps to save this happening to a greater extent, and as a result I believe the manufactures would actually be doing themselves a favour if they followed my example. The problem with the system they have is that once the jar is opened it has to be used within three days, or frozen. The solution which I have adopted, is to buy small plastic containers and fill these with one helping for one meal, or the helping for two meals. These I freeze.

Living alone is now far more common than it has ever been in the past, with fewer marriages, broken homes, single mothers, and widows and widowers. For those who are handicapped, the meals that you make are small, have to be made easily, cheaply, and quickly. One other requirement is that, as you require to have fresh vegetables in the diet, meals such as spaghetti Bolognese, sweet-and-sour pork, and similar dishes, cannot be an everyday event which then means that the sauces have to be stored in the freezer. It seems to me that if the manufacturers package their sauces in two forms, one as now with four helpings, and the second system using two plastic containers, each holding two portions, this would have considerable appeal, because the purchaser would not only be able to freeze as and when they required to, they would be gaining small containers which they could use for other purposes, such as leftovers, splitting plastic packaged gravy, and similar items. My problem is that probably sauce manufacturers don’t read my blog.