I have key-less entry to my car, which means I have a big bit of plastic that I have to press when I want to get in it or start it. That piece of plastic is powered by one of those small coin-cell batteries.

I was working on Forecourt Trader in Crawley when I found the ’plastic’ getting a bit temperamental to the point where I needed a new battery.

So I drove up to Pease Pottage services to buy a new one or so I thought.

I went into the main retail service area, into WH Smith. They could sell me a top 10 CD, a best-selling book and even a Cozee pillow but no battery.

I then went to the forecourt store at the services no luck there either.

Now surely I can’t be the only person in the world who has gone into a forecourt store looking for a battery for the ’key’ that gets them into their car? On this occasion, and in a huff, I had to drive to Halfords where I bought two batteries just to be on the safe side.

Now I know that most of you reading this are keen for your forecourt shops to be convenience stores but not selling batteries for keys is very inconvenient.

So well done to those of you who stock coin-cell batteries and, for those of you who don’t, I say stock up now.

According to Tim Clark of Panasonic, they have a 10-year shelf life so there’s no real reason not to stock them! And he says that if you don’t have room on your display for them you could at least keep some in behind the counter or in a drawer.

Changing the subject completely, and I’ve been eating a lot of soup lately.

My absolute favourite is Heinz cream of tomato so I was very interested in Heinz’s new Facebook campaign it’s quite ingenious. It allows consumers to send a poorly friend or family member a personalised tin of ’Get Well Soup’.

They can choose from cream of tomato or cream of chicken and once they have keyed in the recipient’s name, it appears on the soup tin’s label. It is then delivered in a gift box the cost, £1.99. You have to go onto Facebook and ’like’ the page to get to the Get Well Soup.

Now I need to try it out to see how well it works anyone fancy some soup?

Topics