Natural yogurt.

I read his name is Patrick .

I was reading a book whilst sat on the sofa next to Gail last night. Gail was watching one of her favourite television programmes, a soap opera called EastEnders on BBC1. I have no time for any soap opera and simply ignore them all.

However, when I get to the end of a paragraph in my book, I quite often glance up at the screen. All of a sudden I burst out laughing and Gail thought I had read something really funny in the book. I explained to her what I found so very funny. I glanced up from my book and there was a scene being played in EastEnders at the local convenience store. Now this is not some multinational megastore with breathtaking floor space. It is not even a Spar or Tesco Express. It is what my mate Matthew down at the farm would call a Paki shop.

Looking at the EastEnders website I discover that this small shop is called Walford’s Mini Mart. Let's call it a poxy little corner shop, shall we? Well, all the big supermarket chains are really keen on public image and dress all their staff in distinctive uniforms and a mandatory name badge bearing the company logo and employee's first name. We usually get our groceries from Morrisons and I believe that calling the cashier by their first name should brighten up their boring day in the shop. I think most staff appreciate this, rather than customers treat them like slaves. I also think I can pronounce the Muslim first names quite well, which many customers would shy away from.

So, why was I laughing at the actor Rudolph Walker, who also starred as Bill Reynolds in the 1970s sitcom Love Thy Neighbour? Patrick Trueman, the owner of this little shop did not have any uniform. He looked like a market trader and was wearing a green apron. But what was fixed at the top right hand side of his apron? A very simple plain name badge, white in colour, no company name or logo, just the letters
P A T R I C K. This looked really stupid in the circumstances and really out of place and reality. A poxy little shop would never bother with name badges but Patrick's plain amateur name badge made me laugh out loud!