A Taste Of My Childhood..

..In the form of some 90s Nestle choccies.

As a very messy person (note: messy, but not dirty - there is a very distinct difference. Although right now to be fair, Im pretty dirty) it's necessary for me to completely overhaul all of my belongings every once in a while, as I also seem to accumulate a lot of tat. And a lot of clothes that either aren't mine, or don't fit me - all of which of questionable origin. And as Ive also found somewhere to move into in September, I figured I should take stock (ok that one might be a bit metaphorical, as I also mean take stock of my life generally. But let's focus on the closet for now).

Anyway I'm half way through, having a ciggie break and just had to write this down before I forget.

So I'm rocking out to some old Kings of Leon, happily tossing clothes into those giant Ikea bags which I'll shove in storage somewhere later, feeling quite reckless and getting caught up in my self-induced Spring Clean fever, when what do I spot from behind my old school uniform (yes, I keep my primary school uniform in my wardrobe) but Vice bloody Versas! They were my all-time favourite chocolates growing up, they used to be my Saturday treat when I'd finished ice-skating club in the morning I would buy them from the tuck shop, and in my hour break between Judo and French class (aggressively pushy mother, what can you do?) I used to sit on the swings at Paddington Rec and eat them. This used to take me at least 20 minutes, as I ritualised it to the point where each Vice Versa would be eaten a different way - the first would just be gobbled up, the second I'd eat the outer layer, then let the inner layer melt on my tongue, the third I'd split in half like an Oreo, the fourth I'd eat one of the white ones with the dark centre, the fifth I'd eat one of the dark ones with the white centre.. and so on. Then, in the few years of growing up between Judo club and smoking behind the bike shed, Vice Versas were taken out of production. Now because of the imminent nicotine addiction, I didn't really notice, or care. Until today.

I saw this packet of Vice Versas, and suddenly realised that all these years of growing up, going to school, dropping out of school, falling in love, falling out of love, being in the depths of despair, surviving adolescence and the teenage years only to reach my 20s and realise it's exactly the same but in better clothes - all of this experience would have been spared had I just had a supply of Vice bloody Versas! Then I would have just strolled happily through life, chomping on my yummy chocolate.

So I yelped with childish delight, and fished them out from beneath my Gym socks and plymsolls, tore open the packet, and gobbled them down. So giddy with excitement and candy-related joy was I, that I entirely overlooked the ritual, and before I knew it they were gone. Before I could even savour the sweet taste of my childhood properly, it was gone. And now I'm left with a sense of regret for my giddy greed, and shame for my excitement over weird little choccies.

Come to think of it, they were probably taken off the shelves for some New Labour politically correct reason.