THAT’S JUST NUTS
NOSTALGIA-HUNGRY UNDERTAKER UNEARTHS 30-YEAR-OLD MARATHON BAR AS RETRO EDITION IS ANNOUNCED
AN undertaker from Failsworth has kept a chocolate bar at the bottom of his biscuit tin for 30 years.
Ian Kay bought the Marathon as a memento, back when Mars announced they would be changing the name to Snickers in 1990.
He preferred the name Marathon so thought he’d buy the original version of the nougat filled treat before it was too late.
Ian jokes it will probably stay in the tin ‘until it evaporates into dust.’
Failing that it might ‘end up in a museum.’
He still lives in the same house he was in where he bought the caramel snack - the only thing that has changed is the biscuit tin it’s kept in.
The 56-year-old, who works in Middleton, got in touch with the M.E.N after Mars announced they would be selling a ‘retro edition’ of the Marathon bar for a limited period.
Ian, who lives with wife Sharron Kay, said he’ll probably buy a packet to put in the tin alongside the relic.
But he’s got no intention of chucking out his old one.
“I think I will get a packet of the new ones. I’ll leave it in the tin with the others until I die”, he said.
“I’m glad they’re changing the name. It should be changed permanently. It sounds better.
“All these 20 or 30-year-olds wouldn’t even know (that it used to be called Marathon). They would think ‘why change it back?’
“It’s what you grow up with’”, he said.
Ian has no idea where he bought the Marathon bar from, and can’t remember anything about the day in question.
“I must have thought at the time ‘I’ll keep it at the bottom of the biscuit tin.’ It has always been at the bottom of the biscuit tin.
“One year past, we took biscuits out, and I thought ‘should I eat it?,’ then five years past, then ten years...”. Before he knew it, he’d kept it for almost 30 years. And, he says, he’s never been tempted to keep it anywhere else, or open the packet. It’s never melted, and if he moves it, then it might make it worse. “I don’t want to ruin it. I’ll just leave it as it is. I just don’t know what it would be like inside. The chocolate might be white.
“We rarely use the tin to pass around. We keep putting custard creams on the top. It will stay there until it evaporates into dust.
“A few friends know about it. My sister said ‘you are sad, I know what you are like.’
“I’m quite nostalgic. I don’t like chucking stuff out. My misses will say ‘I need to get rid of that.’”
But, he says Sharron ‘isn’t bothered’ that he’s kept hold of the Marathon bar.
He doesn’t take the chocolate bar out to inspect it, as he’s ‘not that sad,’ he laughs.
Ian says Snickers - or Marathons depending on your age - is ‘up there’ with his favourite chocolate bars, probably second to a Mars bar.
We keep putting custard creams on the top - it will stay until it evaporates into dust Ian Kay