Have things really changed?

"These look nice" I said, about to pick one up and eat it. "They're not real" the boss advised.
For some reason, it took me back to my childhood . Dad would get paid every Thursday and Mum would go shopping on Friday morning, most always bringing back some fruit amongst other regular stuff. There were no supermarkets in those days, only local shops, a butcher, a greengrocer (Kathy Whittles), , and Freddie Potters, the catchall for everything else. None of them were more than 5 minutes walk away.
"You can't eat that fruit till after the insurance man's been tonight" she always told me, "it's there for show".

I wonder if she would have bought fake fruit if it existed..


Ah well...