The (Mysteriously Disappeared) 1976 Breakfast Diaries

Oh, it's that diary again.

Sometimes, things just go missing. You put a pen down, you find you need it again five minutes later, but can you find it? Not until you've found another one. There it is, in your empty tea mug - you'd used it to fish out a crisp and left it there.

Other times, things go missing, and the only explanation is that outside forces have been at work. There's a conspiracy at play. So it is with my 1976 diary. I can't find it anywhere. As The Higsons once said in their song named Conspiracy: "Howard Hughes...did HE steal my bongos?"

Luckily, before it disappeared, I wrote down all my January 1976 breakfasts in a little chart. And here it is:

1. Rice Krispies (eaten 23 times)
2. Golden Nuggets (9)
3. Grapefruit (7)
4=. Marmite on toast and Honey on toast (2 each)

The best part of the Rice Krispies packet is the bottom, where they've gone all powdery. You can almost drink the powdered krispies when milk is added, like a cold Rice Krispie porridge. A big attraction in 1976 would have been that my sister hated the bottom of the packet, and thus I would have liked it even more. Racing to the bottom of the packet to annoy her would have been fun at that age too.

Golden Nuggets were sweeter and more expensive, and thus more of a treat. I'm sure there must have been plastic Klondike Pete figurine giveaways in the box at the time, but I don't have any now. I miss plastic toys in cereal packets. Bring them back now!

Grapefruit sprinkled with sugar (but not too much sugar) will always be delicious. Tangy and wet; half-drink, half-food. Would usually have been served at weekends and followed by cereals...

...or toast! Marmite was spread with dripping (pork fat); honey with margarine. Always on white bread. Always delicious.

Lunches and dinners had much more variety than breakfasts. The most common lunch was fried egg sandwiches (my favourite!); beefburgers and tinned spaghetti was the most often-served dinner.

That's enough 1976 diary (unless it turns up again). I'm currently noting down all my July 2011 breakfasts. I shall post the results in August! Compare and contrast, compare and contrast, that's what I shall do.