Bits and Bobs: the beginning

When I was a kid, my sister and I used to love my Mum's 'bits and bobs' lunches. It wasn't until I got to university that I realised that everybody else's childhood  didn't consist of a bits and bobs mid-day snack that was lovingly prepared by their Mum - especially when they were off school sick or having a duvet day during half-term.

Bits and bobs were, quite simply, made up of whatever was in the cupboard, lovingly presented on a small 1980's side plate and eaten in front of the TV (normally either when Sesame Street or Bewitched was on Channel 4). Bits and bobs sometimes contained some chopped up banana and some cheddar cheese, maybe some buttered white bread, some more fruit, a handful of hula-hoops and (if we were very lucky) some chocolate raisins. It was always a complete mish-mash, a complete surprise as to what would be on the plate. A bit like the term 'guggle cupboard'- that was used to describe the messy cupboard under the stairs which contained everything from plasters to tins of beans - the phrase 'bits and bobs' entered our childhood vernacular. If I asked my Mum for some 'bits and bobs', she would know exactly what I meant.

My sister and I, back in the day when Bits and Bobs were rife (I'm the ginger one)