Paul J Penton – Songwriter

Indulgence – Daily Object Writing- Sept 26

Does an indulgence have to really be such a bad thing? It can take many forms, a shopping indulgence, a food indulgence , a love induglence… if you say the word enough times it loses its power. For me I blame those marketing wizards down at the supermarket – there I am trawling the aisles , running over the mental check list, and marketing ploy number 4 pops into view… the two for one chocolate offer. See-saws of conscience sway back and forth before the rationalization is delivered on a platter – “of course I can have this it’s been such a terrible day/week/ hour appalling situation” etc etc. I NEED this, just one indulgence for the day. And those two bars become a lead weight in the shopping basket, its plastic handles seem to dig deep into my skin, the knowledge of their presence burning away in my brain, so by the time I have got to the checkout I am already unwrapping the crinkly wrapper and tasting the melty chocolate spreading like fur on my tongue a sludgey slurry of sweetness concocted from cocoa extracts from far away lands.

The scanners scan and the attendant greets me with practiced response I respond in kind and the goods are paraded into floppy plastic bags for the journey to the car where I mine the bottom of the bag in addictive frenzy for my indulgence and the ripping wrapper and melting chocolate taste just as imagined, but then comes Over indulgence as I consider the second bar- surely best kept for later- delayment of gratification and all – it’s never quite the same though, like that second cup of coffee or the second bowl of corn flakes… somehow is dulled and maybe that’s why an indulgence is an indulgence or should be other wise I would rate it as an addiction. an easy glove to wear for some, for others as easy to evade as if they wore a suit of steel.