Despite the criticisms of British cuisine, food is big business and nowhere is it bigger than in London.  For in London, there is still a substantial number of people who will by the contents of their fridge from independent retailers and market traders.  Also with the boom in ‘eating-out’ over the last fifteen years, there has been a massive demand for food sources beyond the supermarket supplier.  After all, a restauranteur in Wapping cannot wait in line for a 10lbs of Sea Bass nor does a the owner of a Vietnamese Food Store want ‘2 for 1’ on Sesame Oil.

Welcome to the world of the wholesale market.  London has six of them.  The most famous is Borough market, by London Bridge.  However, the market that most tourists walk through is a ‘Cinderella Version; with olives served in wooden vats.  The real wholesalers are ‘early birds’ usually trading from 2am and finishing when everyone else is getting up.  The other grand markets are New Spitalfields, New Covent Garden, Western International (Produce), Billingsgate (Fish) and Smithfield (Meat).  A visit to any of these markets at hours more suited to Nightclubs will reveal a labyrinth of life.  Of loud voices and large bundles of cash exchanging hands.  Boxes of goods, flung through the air and fork lift trucks speeding to and fro.  And everywhere you go, there is an array of food to feast the senses.  Eat your heart out, Asda.

Yes, these are wholesale markets.  The term is so strange to anyone unacquainted.  Basically this means buying in bulk and cash only, but anyone can attend.  Wholesales are not limited to white vans and the proprietors of Michelin Reviewed Eateries.  The wholesale market is a wonderful place to explore what food really means, real food, the smells, the icky bits and the roughness that comes with the trade.  A world apart from the freezer section in the supermarket.

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So a few months on, what is the smoking ban like in the UK, now that the whole country is covered by the blanket ban on smoking in enclosed, public spaces?  The outcries that went up from various interest groups.  The wails from various sections about ‘Civil Liberties’ and the encroachment of the ‘Nanny State’.  It seemed that we were all doomed, or so the media seemed to portray.

And as always, everyone keeps on going.  A minor inconvenience for smokers and a minor refreshment for non-smokers.  Like the Millennium Bug, the introduction of London’s Congestion Charge, the implication of 20 mph zones in residential areas, people just got on with it.  The hype generated by the ban turned out to be a damp fizzle.  After all, the majority of restaurants, all transportation and many workplaces had already implemented ‘no-smoking’ policies over the last twenty years.

Oh well, I look forward to the next public outcry.

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Last night we had the annual parade of trick-or-treaters knocking at our door.  Some of them were way too young to be dressed up in costumes as scary as their parents had allowed them out in, never mind too young to be allowed out to go knocking on the doors of strangers in the first place!  The US influence of this tradition is fixing a tighter and tighter grip on our nation as the amount of children whose hopeful faces look at me as I answer their incessant knocking and ringing increases.  Unfortunately the “cute” factor of the US tradition has been lost somewhere across the Atlantic.

Every single child was dressed as some kind of evil, scary person from the underworld.  There were a few quite normal looking witches complete with fake hair and warts, but for the most part it was shop bought attire that promoted some horror movie or another.  In the US many mothers make their child’s costume, or at least provide their face make-up so that there’s some effort involved.  Last night I didn’t see one child who hadn’t done more than stick on clothes and plastic. Somehow it seems a lot more like begging – anyone can buy and wear a costume, why should I give sweets out to someone who just pulled some things over his head?
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Something that has now been quite popular over the last decade has been the fad of burning candles.  I use the word fad although more accurately I should label them as a fashion accessory as they still have not gone out of fashion.  Personally, I cannot understand why anyone would want to wilfully paste soot all over the walls and ceilings of their homes, but then that is what makes me a distinctly unfashionable person.  While you can walk into many houses and be astounded by the sheer number and designs of candles, in my own house you will find candles under the sink next to a box of matches in case of a blackout.

They come in all shapes and sizes and, this is what gets to me, all types of smell.  Maybe my nose is hypersensitive to the perfumes or maybe that I need to get out more, but scented candles are probably at the bottom of my list of potential turn-ons.  There is nothing alluring about candles surrounding a bathtub.  Actually, at over six-foot tall, the average British bath tub is nothing but a pain.  However, I digress.  Candles and bathrooms, nope.  Candles around the bed, well I would just be thinking about the fire hazard rather than the sensuality of the moment.  Candles at the dinner table, what’s the point, as I cannot exactly see what I am eating properly.  Candles as a gift, why what a lazy and unthoughtful person you are, you really just popped into Superdrug on the way.  However, so many people love these delightful burning bits, that they do make an easy present to anyone I am not particularly fond of.

So could anyone actually explain to me the delights of these multiple burning bits and why this fad has continued and endured despite that fact that I am not a big fan of them?

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