Collecting

I sat and watched a documentary called "A Bittersweet Temptation" last week on the world of the Kinder Surprise egg. I know about these things, I've seen them around and I've seen them opened and eaten, though I can't remember actually eating one myself. Well, I THOUGHT I knew about these things, but I had no idea. They actually are a way of life for some people, apparently. The little toys and plastic figures inside are collector's items, and some now cost thousands of Euros. There are special meetings and fairs for collectors to meet, swap and buy. I guess in many ways collecting the eggs is like collecting just about everything else. In fact, some aspects of this documentary looked frighteningly familiar. I'm glad to say it wasn't completely recognisable. When one of the women was asked what she would do if she had to choose between her collection and her husband her answer, after a long pause, wasn't quite convincing. This was the same couple that will drive to Germany when a new series first comes out to buy boxes of the things, after carefully selecting the ones that will contain the figurines.

It also reminded me of the craze that hit this country while I was away: smurfs. When I called an English friend who lives in Amsterdam shortly after getting back she told me the country had gone crazy, everybody was collecting smurfs that were free gifts from a supermarket. Apparently 29 million smurfs were manufactured in China, and ten days before the end of the campaign they were all gone. I guess that means that on average every Dutch man, woman and child has two smurfs. There were none in my house until last Saturday, we had missed all this. But then we managed to become average again, my partner brought four smurf into the house. I am, for the moment, proud possessor of the girl smurf and the lazy smurf, he has the big smurf and the pancake smurf. Dividing the foursome was one of those difficult moments in a relationship.