And The Times They Are A'Changing...

 

OK, pictured is tonight's culinary experiment - more jazz - containing some familiar melodic themes, but with a harmonic twist or two. From the left, the mortar contains the freshly-ground spice paste, with below, the green chilli and pepper combo, with the chopped toms to the side. In the pot are the onions, slowly cooking out, and to the right of that, the cubed chicken browning in oil and whole spices. I won't post the recipe until I know how it turns out, but I'll keep you posted.

So, in the interim, I'll expand on last night's chips/fries inflation theme. Thinking back to that pre-inflationary decimalisation era made me reflect on the relative costs of an evening out for an average working-class teenager, then and now. I well know that the social habits of this demographic have altered radically since I was a member of it, but indulge me in a like-for-[approximately]-like comparison.

Starting with the parameters: booze, cigarettes [I know] and, of course fish & chips: yes, a kebab or an Indian or Chinese or a pizza are more likely now, but the general theme holds, so bear with me. When I used to go out with my mate Pete to the pub at the age of fifteen - don't start - I would have the princely sum of one pound sterling at my disposal, if I was lucky [I was at school at the time]. The evening would start with the purchase of twenty Players Number Six ciggies for three and sixpence [seventeen and a half pence, post-decimalisation], before imbibing four pints of Mann's Brown and M&B mild mix - a common session drink back then - although quite expensive at two shillings and sixpence a pint [half a dollar in the parlance of the time and equivalent to twelve and a half pence].

After filling up on the - admittedly weak and probably over-priced four pints of ale - we would then repair to the chippie for cod & chips, to eat on the way home, which would cost one and sixpence apiece, or seven and a half pence, in an attempt to sober up a bit before facing my parents. In the usual teenage way, I would then raid the cupboard for the Jaffa Cakes, and the fridge for a pint of ice-cold milk, swilled down with a pint of water before bed, after staying up for a further two or three hours, watching TV or listening to music whilst the rest of the family slept: the entire evening having cost me fifteen shillings [seventy-five pence].

Fast forward to the present day, and the equivalent night's frivolities would pan out thus: four pints of premium lager would be about twenty quid, a rough price match for the brown & mild. The cigarettes - given that the future teenage me would be smoking shop-bought coffin nails at all - would cost around thirteen quid for that one packet of twenty [one night's supply]. The cod & chips today would be at least a tenner, making the entire evening out around forty-three smackers. You might justifiably say that, well, prices go up, but so do wages. But the thing is, that in this particular scenario, the price of the evening out has risen by a factor of fifty-seven, whereas wages then to now, as I said last night, are only twenty-nine times higher than in 1970. Food [and booze & fags] for thought...