Eggs

Have you noticed how confusing the labelling on egg packages has become? I seem to recall that as a child, sent to the shops to buy eggs, a conversation ensued which went (and I maybe only remember it roughly):

Can I have some eggs please?
How many would you like sir? (Shopkeepers called male customers 'sir' in the early 1960s however old they were)
6 please.
Here you are. That will be fourpence halfpenny.
Thank you.

I have just come back from an expedition to buy eggs. No conversation took place as the eggs were on display in a supermarket.

Decimalisation in 1971 means the prices have become easier to understand but the choice. Gad the choice. First the size. Small, medium, large or very large?

Then the creature. Hen, duck or quail? (This is Royal Leamington Spa.)

Now the confusion starts.

Barn, free range or economy? I guess economy means eggs from hens which have been stapled to the wall of a shed and fed with a spray attachment on a Black and Decker. Pass.

Barn. It's still indoors isn't it?

Eventually I purchased, and I quote from the box:

6 medium free range eggs - fresh (what other sort would I really want?) eggs laid by hens with freedom to roam outdoors during the day.

Soon my label will say:

6 medium free range eggs which used to be free to roam outdoors during the day but really, what with bird flu and that it's much fairer if we keep them indoors for their own good.