SPOTLIGHT ON...
Along with snowdrops and daffodils, catkins are regarded as a welcome sign of spring, so if you can’t get out into the country as easily as you’d like, then grow them in your garden.
The ordinary hazel isn’t for everyone, admittedly. In a tiny plot it will make a takeover bid. But the corkscrew hazel or Harry lauder’s walking stick, (Corylus avellana ‘Contorta’), looks fabulous at this time of year and will never eat you out of house and home.
named after a Scottish comic, whose chief prop was a crooked walking stick, its twisted curlicues of branches will erupt every February with those delicate, sulphur yellow lambs’ tails that send clouds of pollen into the air when gently tapped.
These are the male flowers. look very closely and you’ll see other buds on the stems are carrying the female flowers – they are much smaller and comprise a tuft of bright crimson filaments that will sometimes carry hazelnuts in the autumn.
But it is for the jollity of its flowers that we grow it, and the contorted b beauty of its twisted stems. The leaves themselves are coarse, hairy and rather puckered, but they are a small price to pay for a plant that’s good to look at for the other six months of the year.
It is not especially fast growing or too large and the back of a border is a good place for it. Then you will notice it in winter when its catkins unfurl. If you have a shady wall and are struggling to find something to cover it, you could plump for another plant that carries catkins – garrya elliptica. This is an evergreen shrub, happiest against a wall, and its dark green leaves make a good background to the grey–green catkins that dangle from the shoot tips in February and March. In the variety ‘James Roof’ these catkins can be anything up to 12in long.
SHOPPERS using supermarket convenience stores could potentially end up spending around £320 more a year on groceries, according to Which?
The consumer group’s research indicated that Sainsbury’s Local and Tesco Express customers could be paying up to around £320 and £280 respectively more a year than those who shop at larger stores for the same items.
Which? said convenience stores have been a lifeline for many people during the coronavirus pandemic, but they may not be the most economical way for consumers to shop, as prices can be higher.
More than half (51%) of Which? members who used convenience stores said in a survey of more than 1,000 people that cost is one of their biggest bugbears.
To find out how much more customers could be spending at supermarket convenience stores compared with their larger stores, Which? analysed the average weekly price of 48 own-label and branded groceries for a five-month period from June to October 2020, across Sainsbury’s Local and Tesco Express.
It compared prices with the cost of the same items at their supermarket counterparts.
Which? found customers could be paying 9.5% more a year (£322) at Sainsbury’s Local than at a regular Sainsbury’s supermarket.
On average, the 48 items, which included tinned tomatoes and ginger nut biscuits, cost £71.26 a week at Sainsbury’s Local compared with £65.08 at a Sainsbury’s supermarket. The weekly difference – £6.18 – adds up to around £322 a year.
Which? also found Tesco Express customers could be paying 8.4% (£279) more a year compared with a larger Tesco supermarket.
The shopping basket of 48 items would cost £69.12 at Tesco Express compared with £63.75 at a Tesco supermarket – a difference of £5.37 a week and around £279 a year on average.
Which? said that, at Sainsbury’s, the products with the biggest price difference were a 400g can of Napolina chopped tomatoes, which was a third more expensive at Sainsbury’s Local, and a 250g packet of McVitie’s ginger nut biscuits, which was just over a quarter more expensive at a Local store compared with a larger supermarket.
Several Tesco own-label products were around a quarter (23%) more expensive in Express stores than in supermarkets, including
Tesco 0% fat Greek-style yogurt (500g) and Tesco orange juice with bits, not from concentrate (1ltr).
But there were cases where products at convenience stores cost the same or less money.
For example, a 500ml bottle of Flash spray with bleach was found by Which? to be the same price (£1) at Sainsbury’s Local, Tesco Express and the supermarkets. McVitie’s digestives were also a penny cheaper on average in the smaller stores.
Sainsbury’s told Which?: “We’re committed to offering our customers the best possible value. The price of our products is influenced by a range of factors, including promotions, which can vary between Sainsbury’s supermarkets and convenience stores.”
Tesco said: “Our Tesco Express stores are mainly in built-up areas where, unfortunately, rents, rates and the operating costs for these stores are higher.
“The difference in prices of some products reflect these increased costs, but our prices remain competitive as we strive to offer great value to our customers.”
THE SHAPE OF DARKNESS by Laura Purcell Raven Books, hardback £12.99 (ebook £9.09) HHHHH THE Shape Of Darkness is the latest spooky page turner from Laura Purcell.
It tells the tale of silhouette artist Agnes as she investigates the terrible goings-on that seem to be plaguing her in Victorian Bath.
In doing so, she meets Pearl, a child spirit medium who appears to be key to finding the villain responsible for a string of murders.
Not one to read alone at night, Purcell weaves an eerie web of complex family relationships that she slowly unwinds as her characters attempt to separate illusion from reality.
With genuinely spine-tingling unease, the reader reaches the final revelation of the book with equal parts confusion, relief and sorrow.