When I was a wee girl, living in Saughall, near Chester in England, my siblings and I used to take our pocket money(allowance) and run down the road to the local shop (what I'd now consider a Corner Store) and spend agonizing minutes chosing our sweets. They were always displayed in glass jars at the front of the counter so that no Mum or Dad could escape without buying a least one sweetie for their sniveling offspring.

The process of chosing was a difficult one, made more so by the ever present competitiveness of siblings. I would, being the oldest of the three of us (older brother was far too cool to participate), buy the latest, newest sweets just so I could talk about them with my commrades at school, my younger brother (always the economist) would get the greatest bang for his buck and buy BULK and little sister (having no idea what money meant), would want everything and therefore end up with very little as I would encoureage her to buy ones I wanted.

When we got our loot home, we would sit around and compare, organize our sweets into piles and then ferret them away for private consumption. Mine lasted until the end of the day, baby sisters would last an hour or so or until she got a tummy ache but little brother (the little miser), would flaunt his sweets for days, rationing them out for daily consumption. He made me crazy with his self-control and his superiority and I HAD to find his secret hiding spot.

Many, many hours were dedicated to unearthing the "Sweetie Stash" but woefully, I never discovered where he hid them (although I think big brother knew the whole time). My efforts were met with much lecturing from my Mum and Dad, teary tattle-taleing from dear little brother and frustration.

So see? I did once enjoy a good "Sweetie Surrender". I simply found that I am not inclined to eat sweets unless they belong to someone else!