WHERE DID THAT PHRASE COME FROM?

I remember lots of sayings from my childhood and sometimes they come into my mind randomly - which is quite appropriate given my Blip subject today!

So the phrase “A sprat to catch a mackerel” denote a small outlay or risk ventured in the hope or expectation of a significant return.  This is a metaphor from fishing, in which sprats are used as bait to catch larger fish.

To explain - there is a BP garage quite near to where we live, but the petrol there is 165.9p. a litre so we tend not to use that particular one, but search around for something cheaper.  Earlier this week, I had an email from BP saying that if we purchased two particular items from a range of different things, we could get 10p. per litre off our petrol.  Thinking this must be a bargain, we went down there this morning to fill up before going off to the Hillier Garden Centre at Lechlade.

I went inside just to check that it was correct, and was told by the young man behind the till that I could choose from the range on a shelf just behind me.  I gave Mr. HCB the “thumbs up” so that he could start filling the car  - and as you know, I am a chocoholic, so chose one bar of chocolate - the Cadbury Caramilk - and the packet of Randoms.  Inscribed on the front of the pack it says, “More random than a monkey playing a saxophone” and you must admit you don’t see many of those, and on the back it says, “Billions of possible combinations all bursting with irresistible fruit flavours, meaning you’ll never get the same bag twice.”  What marketing rubbish!  However, as we had no fruity sweets in the car, I bought those too and it’s good to note on the packet that there are no artificial colours, flavours or preservatives, so I count that as a win!

BUT, and here’s the catch - the petrol came to over £66 but the chocolate and sweets came to £3.95 so we saved in total 11p, which meant we only got just over 10p. off 1 litre instead of off 40 - a total waste of time really, but it made us both laugh and I decided that I would take a photograph of the two items.  Today we could be called Mr. and Mrs. Gullible as there was no significant return on our outlay, but hey, we laughed! ;-) 

We did enjoy our time at Hilliers Garden Centre though and it was a pleasant morning weatherwise, although it has turned a little dull now.  Have a great weekend - we are off to a Blipping Birthday Party tomorrow with the Silly Saturday Gang, so looking forward to that.

“A day without laughter
     is a day wasted.”
Attributed to:
Charlie Chaplin, Groucho Marx
Nicolas Chamfort and Mr. & Mrs. HCB

P.S.  The Randoms were quite tasty - the chocolate will be our evening treat tonight.