MMMMMmiaow

Here is Sara the Cat enjoying some attention from L this evening. I don't want to anthropomorphise our cat so I have to admit I have no idea how she feels about most things. The almost silent rumble deep in her throat however, according to experience, appears to suggest some pleasure on her part.

Sara spends the most time playing with things we would otherwise throw away - empty boxes, an old wickerwork basket, the insides of toilet rolls, bits of string or old ribbons, and scrunched-up paper on its way to the recycling bin. There's clearly some kind of lesson there, but just now I'd rather be playing with her.

The life of a house-cat is certainly appealing. Food that you like is available whenever you wish. Although you spend a lot of time caring for your personal hygiene, all else is the task of others, including the swift removal of your natural excretions and the equally speedy restocking of your litterbox. You may sleep as much as you wish, and with a couple of cute tricks can easily encourage your flat-mates to play with you. You sit at the window and look out at what is happening in the world. Finally, you are loved and caressed and feel safe in your home. 

Come to think of it, life under lockdown sometimes isn't that far away from what I've just described. Miaow!

What is Wrong With This Picture?

Ready to be eaten!

I've always loved Ribena. I've also been a vegetarian since I was 11. Nobody mentioned, however, that  I need to watch what I drink as well as what I eat. Have you seen any Ribena ads recently (here is an example)? Look at all the jolly blackcurrants just dying to get into the bottle. They've been anthropomorphised to make them appealing, like cute little kiddies … and all they want is to be part of our pleasurable experience, i.e., drinking the little darlings, i.e., ingesting and digesting them. Unless they expect to come out whole the other end of my colon, this means bye bye berry.

The ad that first made me think about this was for butter, and featured a butter man flying a butter plane straight into a baked potato. Maybe it's ok for a carnivore to eat a butter human but this veggie couldn't bear it. I searched online just now for that old ad but could not find it. However, the Country Life butter ads aren't much better. Here's one where the men made of butter make sandwiches with butter and enjoy them heartily. Isn't that cannibalism? And here's a Lurpak ad that ends with the guy actually spreading himself on the bread. Che schifo!

I hate it when people don't think things through. Rant over. And to say sorry, here's a good old-fashioned butter ad complete with earworm.