Waitrose closure will have impact beyond posh people | Simon Carter

Instead, it was a forthcoming lack of ‘pickled lemons and corn-fed chicken’ which brought forward such an apocalyptic response from one shopper.

And all because Waitrose was pulling out of the town. I mean, first world problems or what!

The comment, in last Thursday’s edition of The News, made me think of the hilarious online ‘Overheard in Waitrose’ account.

It contains such classics as ‘No marinated artichokes? It’s like East Berlin in here,’ ‘I’d never accept anything less than an inquisitively laid egg on my breakfast table,’ and ‘Ever since they started to offer free coffee in here it has been like a bloody soup kitchen.’

Those sort of comments may well be apocryphal, but I doubt it.

Of course, while it is easy to laugh – I mean, have YOU bought a pickled lemon lately? – there are serious sides to this conversation.

One, due to the seemingly relentless march of online spending enough shops have closed in recent years – not just in Waterlooville, almost everywhere – and our precincts and town/city centres can ill-afford any more.

It’s a question we need to ask ourselves – when is the destruction of our once thriving high streets ever going to end?And two, we live in a society where some families rely on food banks while others make regular visits to Waitrose and look up recipes for pickled lemons (£3.09p for a 350g jar if you’re interested).

It was around 30 years ago that former prime minister John Major spoke of his hope of helping to create a ‘genuinely classless society.’

That quote has not aged well. Indeed, UK2020 remains – as George Orwell described it between the two world wars – ‘the most class-ridden society under the sun.’ And, sadly, the gap is getting wider all the time …

The utter stupidity of people never ceases to amaze me...

The older I get – I was 51 in January – the more stupid the population appears to become.

And if you wanted conclusive proof, coronavirus has provided it.

Anheuser-Busch InBev – the world’s largest brewing company – fears the steepest decline in quarterly profit for at least a decade, around £132 million in lost profit.

Why? Because sales of Corona lager have massively dropped –certainly in Asia.

Wow (x five) Do that many people REALLY think drinking a certain beer will give them a fatal disease?

On Twitter a while ago, I laughed out loud at a meme which stated: ‘Life is hard enough – it’s harder if you’re stupid.’ It’s 100 per cent accurate, sadly.

Rare words of wisdom from the murky Twittersphere

Amid the emotional maelstrom which is Twitter, you can find the account titled Psychological & Facts.

It’s got more than 180,000 followers – including myself – but it contains regular, sensible advice for everyone.

Some sample tweets:1) Count your blessings instead of your problems2) A negative mind will never give you a positive life*3) Wake up every morning with a smile on your face ... don’t let words take you down4) If you don’t do stupid things while you’re young, you’ll have nothing to smile about when you’re old* Twitter kangaroo court members – judge, jury and executioner on everything they disagree with – should take this one on board.