France is now in lockdown

they change the recipe and the “New, improved” version tastes rubbish

Indeed, a very regular occurrence. What they really probably mean is ‘we have found a cheaper source’. What amused me a while back was a certain washing up liquid that was still available in original form, but which proudly said on the label ‘Original, now new improved recipe’.

a certain washing up liquid that was still available in original form, but which proudly said on the label ‘Original, now new improved recipe’.

I can see how that happens. Washing-up liquids tend to come with a choice of perfumes (e.g. “Original” or “Lemon Fresh”). If they have changed the formulation of the detergent, they now have a bit of a problem with how they notify the purchaser of the “Original” perfume variant.

In the more general case, this is an old trope. There are countless examples (breakfast cereals, steak puddings etc.) that proudly announce “NEW!” alongside a phrase such as “The original and best”, and few – if any – have the “perfume” excuse to fall back on.

almost immediately disappears from the stocked products, never to appear again

Oh god, I thought that was just me. I’ve lost count of the number of times that has happened, to the point where I try not to like anything too much in case it notices and runs away.

change the recipe and the “New, improved” version tastes rubbish compared to the original version

“New recipe” (or improved or something along those lines) does not mean they’ve made it better. It was already good to begin with, as few companies are going to take the Continuous Integration approach to retail food by saying “let’s release some rubbish now and fix problems in the (undefined) future”.

What it means is one of the following:

• We’ve had to make a few tweaks because the calorie count was abysmal and since we have to write this stuff on the box…
• Everybody knows that too much fake sweetener makes you poop your pants, and everybody is in love with this stevia stuff right now so we’ll jump on the bandwagon too.
• Palm oil is bad. Bad, you hear, bad.
• That milled in Suffolk flour and that cane sugar was costing too much. So we’re bringing in some old crap flour from the Soviet Federation and sugar like stuff from beets grown dirt cheap in what used to be a rainforest. You’ll pay the same, it’ll cost us a lot less, and the shareholders will be very happy.
• This rubbish is the same recipe we use in the US which has ridiculously lax food hygiene standards, and to be honest we can’t be assed making special exceptions because you people seem to want to know what we actually put in this product.

Pick any/all of the above.

Usually the first thing I do when I see “new recipe” on something is to turn it over and read the small print. Oh, right, so your 12% chicken is now 8%. Gee, that’s practically cat food. And, oh look, the little meat origin label now says TH at the top. [well, that malarkey might change soon!]

BTW, were you aware that French waist sizes

…like a lot of other sizes, are essentially made up.

My foot ranges between a 41 and a 45. I’m generally a “size 4” (large) but it can vary from 3 to 6.

I believe M&S “size generously” their female clothes, because it’s psychologically better to tell a 46 that she’s really only a 42… so if we assume everybody else messes around with sizes too, explains why it’s a pain trying to find clothing in the right size.

Also, am I a 4? A large? A 44? They’re all synonymous in one shop (DistriCenter) but not in another (Gémo). As for the supermarkets, it’s darts on the board time… :-/

…like a lot of other sizes, are essentially made up.

This information I’ve shared is very relevant when shopping in charity shops – like Emmaüs in Chateaubriant! On a – is it Wednesday afternoons?

Yes, from 2pm!

Someone might appreciate this. I was at the supermarket some time back and noticed they stocked two types of the same Arnotts biscuit. Can’t remember what it was. There was the NSW version and the VIC version. Different shaped packaging and slightly different weight IIRC. I asked a staff member about it. They had no idea either.Perhaps people who live south of the border need a special enzyme to keep them alive or something.

“New recipe” (or improved or something along those lines) does not mean they’ve made it better.

Back in the day, Mars bars used to be in waxed paper wrappers. When they switched to plastic there was a flash on them saying “new size, new price”. Being a cynical bunch, we weighed them before and after. New size=smaller, new price=higher.

From the manufacturer’s point of view, plastic packaging has the advantage that there’s air space in there. The waxed paper fitted close to the bar.

New size=smaller, new price=higher.
plastic packaging has the advantage that there’s air space in there

Clearly they missed a trick. ‘Larger size packet’ (including the trapped air) would have been more accurate and more misleading.

Clearly they missed a trick. ‘Larger size packet’ (including the trapped air) would have been more accurate and more misleading.

Oh, I’m pretty sure I’ve seen “biggest ever pack” in recent years.

On the Covid 19 topic – anyone else noticed that the number of UK "recovered cases seems stuck at 344 but the deaths are still rising? That and the stat that the total number of UK vases now exceeds China.

New size=smaller, new price=higher.

I remember the school tuck-shop in the late 50s, and, as well as the delicious ice-buns delivered daily, the commercial Wagon Wheel biscuit.

And they were massive!

I would guess that they were 4" in diameter.

And I don’t think this impression is the same as my childhood impression of Moelfre Bay in Anglesey – that seemed massive to a 4 year old, but is actually tiny.

Wagon Wheels have actually shrunk massively, if that’s an appropriate adverb!

That and the stat that the total number of UK vases now exceeds China.

The country’s going to pot.

I would guess that they were 4" in diameter.

Whoa, that’s more than half the size of a 45.

Maybe it is because you were smaller? I used to get Cornetto as a treat when I was young, and I swear they were about twice the size of today’s feeble offerings.

I don’t get Yorkie over here, but I recall that prior to my leaving in 2002, they were also somewhat smaller than I remember. Ditto that one with the nuts and raisins (I forget the name).

We ALL know Toblerone has lost weight, but not price.

On the topic of big packs, be careful of multipacks. Something started to change around the 2008 banking crisis. You see, for many years we’ve all been conditioned to the idea that buying multipacks is a way of saving money. Maybe it’s less packaging for the manufacturer, or maybe they know they’re shifting more product. Whatever, you’d make a saving buying multiples.
Now, a bit of quick checking (helpful since the law over here requires things to be shown in price per unit (litre, kilogram, etc) allows a direct comparison) may often reveal that buying singles will save you money. I’ve come across times when it’s been rather ridiculous with the multipack being around fifteen percent more expensive.

That and the stat that the total number of UK vases now exceeds China.

That’s what happens when you have a government that begins by thinking it’s a good idea if lots of people catch it. When they realise that’s not a great idea, it’s a little too late. As for the deaths rising and recovered staying the same, recovery is a process. One that takes time, and would need to be checked upon. Death, on the other hand, is pretty self-evident. A person recovering from COVID might slip into remission, but a dead person isn’t going to wake up and think “ah, this feels better”…though these days it wouldn’t surprise me if the dead did get back up…

The country’s going to pot.

Well, it feels a bit different when it gets closer. Some of you will recall my little vasovagal episode back in October (touch of the white coat syndrome)
Various caring staff “fussed” over me.
One features in the BBC News article Leilani Dayrit,

As for the deaths rising and recovered staying the same, recovery is a process. One that takes time, and would need to be checked upon.

As above, it’s a bit closer to home when you’ve met one of the stats. Not keen on being one or being related to one and I’d really like some movement in that recovered figure even if it only creeps up slowly at first.

Brilliant! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8KPbJ0-DxTc

I’d really like some movement in that recovered figure even if it only creeps up slowly at first

I presume that NHS has no interest in whether its intervention has been successful or not.

Brilliant! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8KPbJ0-DxTc

That’s confusing. I don’t know how to feel about it. Yes, brilliant.

I used to get Cornetto as a treat when I was young, and I swear they were about twice the size of today’s feeble offerings.

They’re feeble here in NZ too, but I went to Greece a few years ago and they were comparatively huge over there.

Wagon Wheels have actually shrunk massively, if that’s an appropriate adverb!

Should be renamed as “Wagon Castors”

I presume that NHS has no interest in whether its intervention has been successful or not

Well, whatever the reason the stats page I’ve been looking at now says N/A for the recovered figure for UK.
Take the the total cases, subtract the deaths and the active cases and you have 344 = constantly.

Looks to me like the UK aren’t currently declaring any new recoveries, just contusing to list as “Active”
Do the UK stats indicate they know something no one else does? – intriguing.

Prolonged until 11th May here in France.

Afterwards, possible reopening of crèches and schools, but it probably depends upon what happens in the next four weeks.

I feel sorry for the extroverts. Four more weeks, it must seem like an eternity of house arrest.

Do the UK stats indicate they know something no one else does?

Maybe the person that calculates and updates the stats is off? Maybe everything is paralysed until Johnson comes back? Maybe they’re trying to find a way to blatantly lie so they aren’t the black sheep of Europe?

Individual card terminals need to be updated manually, it seems. Presumably this is being rolled out on a store by store basis by the supermarkets. It hadn’t reached Sainsbury’s in West Yorkshire this morning, either.

Over a year ago we had a new PDQ terminal, we found that it would only do contactless for less than £15 not the £30 max it would have been. After numerous downloaded updates/resets… it still wouldn’t do more than £15 so they sent us another new terminal which had exactly the same problem. Given how little in person sales we were doing we gave up trying to get it fixed.
Updates are normally done automatically overnight but I do wonder what bedlam would ensue if they made a mistake and overnight all of Tesco’s terminals stopped working. So many retailers/Merchant service providers may be reluctant to do updates.

But nobody seems to have told Aldi!

The £45 limit had arrived by Saturday.

Those of you who take notice of what I say – yes, I know that’s no one :)

Anyway, you might recall I mentioned a predicted peak and a date I didn’t state (so you could run a sweepstake) well it’s today.
That was the prediction. In the news certain “experts” are saying it looks to have peaked two weeks ago and the figures on the net appear to be heading into a nice map out of 6 days ago.

So the predictions were off by 6 days and the “experts” can’t even see the figures for last week are bigger than the week before.
Meanwhile, the experts say we need to avoid going back to “normal” anytime before a vaccine appears, which isn’t expected anytime this year and since we don’t have a vaccine for the other coronavirus strains (that’s the common cold folks) you’re best not holding your breath waiting.

So, probably time to plan the new normal but don’t rely on the UK government to do that. Hancock, for one, is too busy dissing the experts that advise government because they don’t know the plan (truth is neither does Hancock – because they don’t have one and blaming Corbyn isn’t viable anymore (never was, but even BloJo and mates aren’t that stupid. Or are they?).

even BloJo

Now that’s really kicking the already fallen¹ and effectively out of the game.

You are cruel!

¹ Dead in a Chequers’ ditch!