Things we miss from Blighty

Yeah, our trip home is now only two weeks away, and we’re looking forward to it quite a lot. Avril was home in June last year, but I haven’t been home since Dad died in August 2007 – nearly two years.

There aren’t too many things that you can’t buy here, but some staple items you would buy in the UK we can’t afford here. Butter is about £2.50/lb here, though milk is not expensive. Yes, we’re working on preparing our own! Cheese is another thing. Cheddar is available, as well as a slightly out of the ordinary locally prepared Gouda. Neither are particularly nice or cheap. We certainly can’t afford the brie, camembert, stilton, or roquefort that we so enjoy.

Another complaint is that crisps (potato chips) just aren’t the same here. Pringles are available and not too expensive, but for some reason any other kind tends to be a bit soggy when you get them. We’ve perfected the art of home-made salt ‘n’ vinegar crisps, but we’re looking forward to crinkle cut, Discos, Doritos and other flavours too.

Avril says she misses fruity yoghurts. She makes yoghurt every week from fresh local milk – bought still warm from the farmer. But it’s just not the same somehow. (She likes that ‘factory’ taste, I suppose.)

The chocolate here, some of which actually bears the Cadbury’s logo, is grainy and lacks chocolaty-ness, defeating the purpose somewhat. One of the major items brought to us from Britain by guests has been chocolate, as well as good ground coffee. It surprises many to hear that. You see, Starbucks buys all the best coffee from here and we can’t afford it. Mars bars, Bournville, Lindt dark chocolate and so on are amongst ‘most missed items’ too.

The beer here is good, though it has nearly doubled in price in the nearly three years we’ve been here. Local varieties are called Kilimanjaro, Safari and Castle, and there’s a Guinness franchise as well. Tastes nothing, nothing like Guinness back home but I still love it. It tastes of marmite. We’ll still be queuing in Tesco’s with San Miguel, Guinness and maybe even Scotch.

Number one, though, on the missed list, is undoubtedly Red Wine. We only buy red wine once every six weeks or so, and save it for special occasions. We sometimes make a bottle last three nights. It’s usually from South Africa and is not too bad, though it beats me why no one takes advantage of the ideal climate here to grow wine grapes.

So if any of you, our readers, sees us in Tesco over the month of June, you’ll no doubt predict the bizarre combination of items that’ll be in our baskets!