The brown stuff

With several clubs seemingly on the brink of collapse, Gordon Brown has ordered football to get its financial house in order. A bit rich coming from a man who's racked up the biggest debt in this country's history.

Feeling saucy

I was a very happy man on Monday. 5 or 6 years after finding my last bottle in a Barnstaple discount food shop, I discovered a fresh supply of OK Sauce at the excellent Joshua’s Harvest Store in Ottery St. Mary (which - even before that wonderful moment - was already becoming one of my favourite shops in the entire world).

When I was growing up, I vividly remember that there were (seemingly) only two choices of brown sauce - HP or OK (or maybe those two letter brands were the only ones simple enough to stick in my infant brain). A few years’ ago, HP was acquired by Heinz, who subsequently demolished the famous Birmingham factory (despite saying that they would never shut it down) and switched production of ‘The Great British Sauce’ to... um... er... Holland. I’ve been searching for a replacement sauce ever since (whilst continuing my protest by also avoiding anything else manufactured by Heinz), so Monday’s discovery was an event of great magnitude, especially since OK was my childhood favourite.

Several days’ later and I’ve somehow managed to resist opening the bottle. I just hope it lives up to my lofty expectations fuelled by dizzy childhood nostalgia. But remembering how Wham Bars and Monster Munch seem to bear no resemblance to the things that I scoffed as a kid, I’m naturally trying to exercise caution. Maybe, I should simply keep my bottle of OK unopened forever and leave my memories happy and untarnished? Then again, it is Bangers and Mash for tea tonight...