I have a feeling I am not the only person who finds the latest advertisement from Birds Eye Green Cuisine extremely annoying and not just because it’s yet another advertisement playing the politically correct box ticking game by using BAME cartoon characters.
No, it’s not the box ticking exercise although that is annoying enough in its own right but it is the dialogue between the mother and her young daughter which is giving me high blood pressure.
Daughter. We had Green Cuisine chicken free dippers at Lucy’s house for lunch, they’re made from plants not chickens and they’re really nice. Why don’t we have them sometimes?
Mother. I’m not sure.
Daughter. Is it because you fear change and you’re scared to try something new?
It carries on extolling the virtues of plant-based foods, yet another box to be ticked, but I always hear another version in my head when I watch this advertisement.
Father. How dare you speak to your mother in such a disrespectful manor young lady, now I suggest you take yourself upstairs to your bedroom without any dinner, either chicken or plant based and spend some quality time thinking about the correct way to speak respectfully to your mother.
Now, that seems a lot better to me and we have ticked another politically correct box by showing an example to young folk of an alternative family unit together with a lesson in respect and good manners.
I am a retired actor, although to be honest I only retired because I wasn't getting any work and the option of becoming an unemployed actor/waiter at my age was ludicrous, especially as my waiting skills are non-existent.
Having said I’m retired, I don’t think there really is such a thing as a retired actor for I am still available for work, I just don’t have an agent or any connections with regards to obtaining any worthwhile work.
I have over the years done student films when there is nothing else available, always low paid (if at all) the only incentive was always the promised copy of the finished film for your show reel which nine times out of ten always failed to materialise.
I spent many years looking after my aged mother who had dementia, hence the lack of acting work but shortly after her death I was lucky enough to run into an ex-girlfriend of many years ago and our romance blossomed once again, resulting in us getting married in 2013.
My move to the countryside inspired me to write The Diary of a Country Bumpkin which tells of my continuing dilemmas in dealing with the rigors of the countryside from the unexpectedly large number of pollens, fungal moulds and hay products waiting to attack the unsuspecting townie.
I enjoy writing, see my play Dulce Et Decorum Est Pro Patria Mori on The Wireless Theatre Company, The Plays Wot I Wrote and The Battle of Barking Creek both available on Amazon.co.uk and am very fond of classic cars so my ideal occupation would be acting in a film I had written set in the 1930s/40s, we live in hopes.
I am delighted to say that since venturing to the countryside where space is not quite the premium it is in town, I have due to the availability of two double garages acquired more classic cars to form a small collection the pride of which are a 1947 Bentley Mk VI and a 2000 Bentley Arnage.
My various blogs and websites are continually evolving and I’m sure that by following the appropriate links you will find something which will edify or amuse.
The Diary of a Country Bumpkin 
I despair at much that I see and hear on TV, Radio, Press, in the street, and particularly online. I may have attained a true state as a curmudgeon!
I think I’ve been in that club for many a year!
Yikes! I’m so thankful I grew up in the fifties.
Me too.