Rhys: I've had a tough few weeks--book tour, rushing around the countryside, finishing a book, doing taxes...so I thought I'd take a nice long relaxing bath. I checked the vanity and found a packet of "Relaxing Pear and Rosemary Bath tea".
Wonderful.
I ran the bath. I took off my clothes. And then I tried to open the sachet of tea. It is encased in plastic and won't open. There are no scissors in this bathroom and I'm naked. So it looks like no relaxing bath for me.
And this is not an isolated incident. A week ago I had to go to a reception. When we got to the city I realized I didn't have a lipstick in my purse. So I popped into the drugstore to buy one. In the Ladies room at the hotel I tried to open it. Again sealed in plastic and won't even open with my teeth.
So my gripe is this: Why do they need to package things so ridiculously well? I've recently had boxes of soup that say "Tear along this line" and then won't tear. Even my packet of peanuts on the plane won't open. And when we're talking electronics, the plastic in which they are sealed needs an industrial-level chain saw to cut into it.
Is this all result of things like the Tylenol Scare years ago? We must keep our peanuts and soup and lipsticks and relaxing bath teas safe from maniacs who might wish to tamper with them?
I remember the good old days. In my childhood I lived in a village and my mother would send me to Smallbones the Grocer (I'm not making this up). He had big open bins of sugar, flour, raisins, barley, beans all over the store. You'd ask for a pound and he'd dig in the scoop and fill a paper bag, twisting it shut. As far as I know nobody ever got sick from this unhygenic practice and the costs were kept down and the landfills didn't fill up with stuff that will never biodegrade. And nobody went mad trying to open anything.
Off for a relaxing bath with Epsom Salts (if I can open them)
