Cherryade

I blogged last week (heck, last month now) about a soft drink of A.G. Barr I bought in Londis. Well, since then I tried a new one: their Cherryade. Which is, you guessed it, cherry flavoured. Like the (in)famous Cherry Coke, which I always found vile. That said, when I was a child, I did drink plenty of soft drinks with fruit flavours, mainly strawberry and orange, and I quite enjoyed them, so out of pure nostalgia I decided to try this one too. And it was... Nice in a disgusting, too sweet way. But I did enjoy it. One thing I noticed about these soft drinks, is that they taste exactly like you'd expect just looking at the can.

Cream Soda (and memories)

I recently stumbled on a can of cream soda from A.G. Barr in a local corner shop. I hadn't had cream soda in decades, so i decided to buy some. Growing up, my parents were fairly strict about the treats we could eat and drink and we never had cream soda or colas at home. My grandmother on my mother's side, however, was always spoiling her grandchildren and we had there were stocks of soft drinks with different flavours, including cream soda. Some cheap brands that don't exist anymore. My cousins, my brothers and I drank them eagerly. So I had that can last Saturday. It tastes exactly like I remembered: horribly sweet, more like liquid ice cream or cream cake. Absolutely vile and not at all refreshing. That said, I will drink more. It's only 49p, for one, and it does remind me of my childhood.

A local shop and an outsider (me)

I just got back from a local corner shop. Well, when I say local it is not quite true: it is a Londis, therefore part of a chain and it is very bland looking as a building. But it has local products and it is outside the center of town, so it is local enough. Not quite local like the local bookshop I visited last weekend, but there you go. From what I could see, the staff and the customers who come in are very local, their accent and looks scream proletarian England. There was something slightly out of time about them, which was quite nice actually. They gave character to a very, very bland place.

I didn't speak much there, basically I bought some milk and cakes and left (now how typical is it to buy milk in a corner shop?). I had time to hear the conversation between a regular customer and the people at the till, about some dog that died in a car because of the heat. I felt every bit like the foreigner I am. I didn't drop in the conversation and I don't know why but I was almost relieved that nobody noticed my accent. I think I don't like all the time being considered like a strange beast or something exotic. Ironic, since the locals are exotic to me (those were anyway). I might like this town, but I am still an outsider and I think I always will be. So when I leave it, I might not be so sad.