uncleduck

I'm sure most people reading this are familiar with the playground tradition of "One-for-one". I give you one of my crisps for one of yours - sounds simple. One Golden Wonder equals one Tayto. After this, the fights begin - I remember debating (aged 9?) whether one Tayto was equivalent to 1, 2 or 3 of the yellow-pack cheapie crisps. I still remember my confusion when I was old enough to realise that not all crisps are created equal and yellow-pack were very cheap indeed. Two Tayto for one Monster Munch was a given. How many yellow-pack for Monster Munch though? Did Smith's salt-and-shake lose value if they had been salted? What if they were Free State Taytos?

The playground exchange rate was not limited to crisps. One Penguin for two fingers of a Kit Kat or a fun-size Mars bar. Was a bag of crisps a fair swap for a Penguin? What if they were yellow-pack crisps? What about Jelly Tots?

I'll lend you my comic if you give me a finger of your Kit Kat, or half your Hula Hoops, or your Matchbox car over lunchtime instead. Beano's worth more than the Dandy and 2000AD is like gold-dust. No, the car for my Salt and Vinegar isn't a fair swap but the car for John's Ready Salted might be - ask him. Oh - John prefers Ready Salted - well, if they were mine they'd be worth less. What about the car and a finger of Kit-Kat for my Salt and Vineger? OK, deal done.

These wonderings returned to me last night after a retro-moment saw my wife and I enjoying KP mini-chips and Space Raiders. How many mini-chips for a Monster Munch? Don't ask...