quest for prime

yo y'all

the absolute, wonderful and indeed overwhelming positive of this post is that it delivers the news that i need never ever set foot in a branch, or chapter, of Asda again. not that i have any particular quarrel or argument with this retailer, look you see. rather more that, like many others (and indeed the staff of this particular store) i have grown weary and tired of frequent trips ending in if not disappointment then a sense of wasting time. 

i speak, of course, of the mysteries and vagaries of this "prime" drink. and drink, i believe, is the safest term i have to describe it as accurate. so far as i am aware there's all sorts of particular branding of it, with it being marketed as for sports, or hydration, or something. this would be the drink devised, produced, promoted or endorsed (perhaps a combination thereof) by some of them kids what do the videos on that there internet what all the kids appear to watch. no, sorry, i can't quite recall their names, but i suspect it is so that their fame and fortune exceeds a level where they would need me to advocate them. 

of course it was so that my sons, or heirs if you will (time is a thing), very much wished to be "in" on all this craze. and rightly so, for following trends and being hip is what it is to be young in the world we crated. my regular, frequent trips to Asda stores, across the land, proved futile. happy days, for their mother managed to score some after several trips. 

from my side, or on my part, when the boys first asked for some to be obtained i had assumed (or if you like presumed) this would be as straightforward as going to a shop and purchasing it. not so. to begin with, inexplicably it is only Asda where one can get the stuff, at least at the intended price. yet they seldom had stock of it. the claim made was "logistical issues" prevented stock arriving. a look online at the great virtual car boot sale saw plenty of people selling it, often for north (!!) of £20 (!!!) a bottle. for something of an aside, what seemed like a conspiracy theory commenced in the face of this, suggesting that the staff of Asda were swiping it and doing the selling online. weirdly this proved to be at least partially accurate, and i believe several staff members have been dismissed for such. how stupid a way for one to lose their employment status. 

beyond that, in the face of such limitations the curious phenomenon of "the kids" forming queues at stores of Asda from the early hours of the morning duly commenced. sightings were made of the young hanging around from 6am, waiting for the store to open, hoping to be able to purchase this apparently rare and hard to get thing. unless, evidently, you are (or were) an employee of the shop. 

wow. i mean part of me thinks this is the Apple trick, which is to say deliberately creating an artificial shortage to stimulate demand and make sure it makes news, but this is likely just me thinking in the older terms i am aware of. like much of the elements of this century i simply don't understand what, exactly, it is these kids do with internet videos and what have you, but this is not a barrier to me appreciating and respecting what they have achieved. i am not really in their demographic, after all.

have i tried this stuff? yes, the boys very kindly (indeed graciously) allowed me one (1) sip. no, this wasn't really revelatory or life altering. my abiding memory, i suppose, was how "thick" the liquid is. a bit like drinks what we used to get freely in the 70s and 80s, until they reduced the content of certain elements in such. fragments of flat tizer to the taste of this particular variation, maybe. my conclusion, for what value such is, is that the appeal here is certainly the endorsement, the people behind it and the trend rather than the actual contents of the product. 

good luck to those still seeking this out, and a particular "shout out" to parents on a quest to get it for their own offspring. what shall be interesting to see is, as and when the drink experiences proliferation, and is more widely available, if the popularity (and demand) remains. each and every trend comes to an end, i write, recalling loom bands and fidget spinners in the most recent of times. 

be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!