Pick up a penguin

We stopped by Fiesta the other day and as we always do when we're in there, we stopped by the British Aisle where they have a small selection of British foods as ridiculous prices.

Feeling naughty we picked up a packet of penguins. If you're not familiar with Penguins, they're two pieces of biscuit with chocolate cream in between and covered in chocolate.

Later that night, we had one each with a cup of tea. Ok, I had two with my cup of tea but purely for research purposes for this post :).

Penguins are made by McVities and it reminded me of the McVities factory I used to live near.

If you lived in Burnage, or pretty much anywhere in South Manchester then the chances are that you knew someone who worked at McVities.

I remember when I was a kid we must've known someone who worked there as we used to get boxes of broken or unmarked biscuits that me and my brother used to love. There would be penguins in there as well as many other different kinds. I seem to remember a lot of 'United' biscuits too which had a crunchy coating with honeycomb mixed in the chocolate I think.

We used to pass the factory a lot, especially as it was across from Cringle fields where we used to play football and I remember they used to always decorate a little hut at the front with different coloured lights for Christmas.

As I grew older, my main memory of the McVities factory was riding passed it on the bus into Manchester. Most people on the bus were either asleep, wearing headphones or reading a newspaper, doing whatever they could to block out the rest of the world until it was time to get off and go to work.

Most of the buses in Manchester were so old and dirty that it was virtually impossible to see out of the windows but you always knew when you were approaching McVities. The smell of freshly baked biscuits filled the air. This was the only break from the diesel fumes you'd get and every single person on the bus would stop what they were doing, distracted by the smell. People would lift their nose into the air to breathe in a bit more biscuity goodness.

It wouldn't last long and everyone would soon be back in their own little world but as long as you could smell the biscuits, everything was alright in the world.

It was even better on the way home as the smell was just as strong but it also signalled that it was nearly my stop.

Bank of Burnage

A nice move by Oasis.

After a recent show at Manchester's Heaton Park was marred by sound problems, they offered the entire crowd a refund, even though the problems were fixed and the show resumed.

That itself was a nice PR move for their home town crowd, but I was even more impressed when the refund cheques were mailed out this week.

Although legal tender, the cheques were printed as special souvenir items from "The Bank of Burnage", the small neighbourhood in South Manchester where Liam & Noel Gallagher, and of course me and our kid grew up.

Noel described the number of people who claimed the refund as 'cheeky' noting that he didn't see such a huge gap in the crowd that night and questioned whether fans were really disappointed but the cheques were issued in the hope that they will become collector's items and people would decide not to cash them. Everyone's a winner.

Smart move boys.

Pretty Green

One of the strangest things I’ve heard recently is that Oasis frontman Liam Gallagher is launching his own clothing range.

Called Pretty Green, and made up of “key industry professionals” it is “an up front, straight talking, classic clothing range.”

Now, I love Oasis. I love their music anyway, and I find Noel Gallagher funny and intelligent when I hear him speak but I can’t say I’ve ever really noticed what they’re wearing.

I grew up in Burnage, Manchester, the same as the Gallagher brothers and we even went to the same school (St Bernards), although at different times so it’s pretty much required by law to be a fan and to have some link to them, however tenuous. We even lived next door to Tony McCarroll, the original drummer of the band.

Liam says “Clothes and music are my passion. I’m not here to rip anyone off and I’m not doing it for the money either. I’m doing it cuz there’s a lack of stuff out there of the things I would wear.”

Very noble Liam, and I might do the same thing myself if next time I call in to Target or Old Navy their shelves are bare.