WOMAN ON THE VERGE: Lifting the lid on my love of Tupperware

I never knew you could feel so strongly about lunch boxes until Tupperware announced it was unsure about its future what with it being on its uppers. You can keep your fancy containers, I'm a big fan

• THIS week I’ve mainly been getting teary-eyed over Tupperware. In case you missed it, what with Biden being in town and all, the company has announced (lifted the lid?) on its potential demise after 77 years in business. I’m gutted! So many of my childhood memories revolve around Tupperware – between school lunch boxes, larger picnic boxes for the sambos to the beach or on match days, cake tins, and not forgetting that good-sized yellow one we used as the family puke bowl (and also to make potato salad). We never used them for cereal in our house but I know loads of people who did (including apparently the former Queen of England). I’ve vivid memories of two orange Tupperware containers which were always filled with goodies. One would be topped up every Friday with my mother’s unique take on queen cakes – she turned them upside down, smeared them with jam, and then poured melted chocolate over them (simple but sublime). The other usually contained a madeira cake, which would stay fresh for a good 10 days in the tin if it was wrapped properly. My sister and I have inherited loads of these tubs from our mum, and granted while they do smell a bit funny and are slightly off colour, they’re still in perfect air-tight condition which is its big selling point. Not to mind those most mysterious Tupperware parties that were all the rage in the 80s. Now that I think about it, it was obviously way more than just buying the lunchboxes, and more about the social connections, ie getting out of the house. Funny, though, how mums in the 80s didn’t drink wine or G&Ts at such gatherings … or did they and we just never knew? (for the purpose of research I checked with my mother and she confirmed it was just teas and coffees, and a ‘bit of a spread’). Anyway, I remember my mum going to, and hosting, such parties, and the excitement being off the scale when you’d get your delivery afterwards of all sorts of exotic things like jelly and ice-pop moulds. The US business (founded by a businessman called Earl Tupper) said it’s struggling to attract younger shoppers. No doubt their heads have been turned by all the other fancy (and er, possibly more sustainable) containers out there now; things like Bento and bamboo boxes. But what Tupperware might lack in aesthetics needed for those Pinterest-perfect pantries, I say it makes up for it in durability. Some of my containers are over 30 years old! What say we organise an old fashioned Tupperware party? I’ll even lay on some cheese on sticks?

• Right, so for a while this week I thought I was the victim of a banking scam and I’m not the better of it. Here’s how it went. I was flying out the door to bring the smallie to football training when I got a text to tell me there had been some unusual activity on my account. There was also a missed phone call from a Dublin number. I instinctively rang back the number and spoke with someone with a strong midlands accent purporting to be from my bank. He said the same thing that was in the text, and asked me for my online banking ID. Immediately all sorts of alarm bells, sirens, and flashing lights started going off in my head. Hah! You must be joking me! I didn’t come down in the last shower! No flies on me, I told him, and in no uncertain terms accused him of being a scammer. Conor Pope would have been proud of me! He insisted, somewhat wearily, that he wasn’t, and told me to call to my bank the next day to unfreeze my card and hung up on me. I was a nervous wreck that evening and kept checking my account to make sure my €357 was safe and untouched. At one point I even wondered had the hackers taken pity on me and my paltry sum, and decided to leave me alone. Anyway, long story short, I contacted my bank the next day, and it turned out to have been a bona fide call, all above board, completely genuine. Oops. Soz to the man with the midlands accent who was just trying to help. No hard feelings buddy, thanks for having my back. 

•So the weather has picked up nicely, hasn’t it? About time too. There’s lots of talk that it’s going to get warmer weather than mainland Europe shortly. I’m delighted it’s after drying up, but we definitely don’t want it getting too hot do we? Especially not so early in the season. Sure we can’t cope with it, and our gardens can’t, or our poor cows. And sure what would we wear? Granted it’s a great talking point but we’re just not built for extreme temperatures. If we could hold things around the low 20 degree mark that would suit me perfectly altogether. What’s the Donegal postman saying I wonder? 

•My resident magpie is still around. I’ve decided to call her Madge, as it sounds less foreboding than ‘The Magpie’. She’s a brazen article let me tell you, barely hopping out of the way of the car, but I’m getting used to her. I’ve started tossing her the odd crust, and she pretends to ignore it until she thinks I’m not looking. She was helping me get over some of my long-held silly superstitions until I started wondering if she was someone from the other side, reincarnated? It’s possible right? I’d better throw out a few extra crusts for her tomorrow just in case.