One of the possibly few positive outcomes from the COVID-19 pandemic is the return to a simpler life although it hasn’t rarely been voluntarily. On the weekend we went to see an Australian film, “Penguin Bloom”, well worth seeing, and we bought an ice-cream cone, a simple pleasure or so I thought.
While waiting for the start of the film I read the information on the side and there were 22 components. This seemed complicated since as a child our grandmother used to make it for us with milk, sugar, cream, vanilla extract and maybe salt. Some of these products were unknown to me although Google tells me that “Maltodextrin” can “improve flavor, thickness, or shelf life” and warns that Colors 102 and 133 are suspected of causing Asthma attacks. I wasn’t sure whether to eat it but decided to take the risk.
I know the world of horse and buggy has gone for most of us, but it was easier, probably safer and certainly less polluting. It seems that most people’s worlds have shrunk recently although balanced by the fact there is more connection with their local neighborhood.
Let’s put out phone away and look for the simple pleasures of life.
Dennis Fitzgerald,
Melbourne, Australia
