Nothing gives me joy like a food brand releasing a special edition of their product.
I was never a fan of the actual stuff inside. My mother had been a chef, and from a young age I distrusted anything processed. They reminded me of blocks of sawdust or cement. Calories designed to trick your brain into thinking you have had a decent meal.
But I just loved a 25th anniversary logo on a pot of marmalade. A World Cup mascot on the side of a box of cereal took me back to Christmas morning and Halloween night. Many themed products line the shelves of my kitchen. They remind me of ambition. How much creativity and happiness you can spread across the land.
Once you knew the rhythms of the seasons, and the dates of sporting events and national holidays, these foodstuffs were not hard to source. I hoovered up Mother’s Day chocolates and Coronation biscuits on the first day of release.
Which is why I was so surprised by my latest trip to the corner shop.
Milk is one of those products which does not have a particular brand. You do not need loyalty. You just need some milk.
But this plastic carton had pictures of candles all over the label. The word festival curved around a triangle filled with teeth-like lines near the nutritional information. I had never heard of this festival, let alone understood the connection to milk. But the container was an essential purchase for my collection.
Maybe this was the reason the cashier gave me the hand signal.
I decided to make a stack of pancakes, topped with fresh fruit. The milk had a chalky smell, and poured like PVA glue. But my worries vanished once the flour and eggs went in. The pancakes tasted fine. Perhaps a little chewier than normal.
What has happened since may be a coincidence. But the visions happen nearly every night. A line of candles float past the window. The church bells ring, even though there are no churches nearby. The silver spiders crawl up the side of the door, glittering in the glow of the streetlight outside.
I am still trying to find out more about the festival. What the symbol means. What time of year it takes place. If it ever ends. But I am so short of sleep. I need some decent, nutricious food. But all I have in the house are boxes of expired products from happier days.
Line: The church bells ring, even though there are no churches nearby.
