People said, before I left, that the thing that made me homesick would be something completely unexpected; something I wouldn’t even have considered.
Rubbish, I said. I have considered everything. That is one of the great things about anxiety-based depression: no one can ever accuse you of not having thought something through because you’ve not only thought it through, you’ve wasted a hell of a lot of time and energy thinking through every possible alternative scenario, the ramifications and consequences of each and the correct way of dealing with every single one, no matter how unlikely.
It’s brilliant that way. If somewhat time-consuming.
So I thought I had covered absolutely everything. Mainly, I thought, almost everything would be covered by the fact that food-wise, if you can’t get it in at least one American supermarket, it probably doesn’t exist. In this society, choice is paramount and the customer is king. I like this. I was well aware that I wasn’t exactly going to go wanting for my favourite yoghurt, because not only would they have that, but 12 other ones like it, available in fat-free, low-fat, extra-added-vitamin and fibre-enhanced varieties.
Within the first four days I had found in shops within blocks of my house all my favourite staple things (apart from Marmite and Vegemite, which I am working on) and a billion other things that will either replace staple foods from the UK, or just be new ones. That’s great. I am loving it all. Really.
But there is one thing.
Just one thing. Please, dearest US readers, please understand I think your country and your shops marvellous, and your people welcoming and your choices more than adequate. But seriously. You’ve managed all these wonders and come so far and done it all without squash? HOW?
Not squash the vegetable, no.
Squash the drink.
No, not a drink made from or tasting of the vegetable ’squash’. Just squash.
Squash.
*sighs*
It was a huge iceberg of homesickness that hit me at the end of last week, and it was carried on a giant wave of squash.
Every time I walked through the aisles I would be counting things off. Juice, yes, lovely. Fizzy drinks, super, brilliant; every possible kind of fizzy drinks in sugarless form? Super-awesome. Now. If I could just get some squash, then …
…. what do you mean, no squash? It’s fruit or peppermint flavoured concentrate or cordial, available in sugary and no-sugar form, and occasionally with barley. It comes in bottles of a litre or two litres and occasionally bigger (let’s not talk about the litre thing for the moment, we will leave that to another time) and once you have a bottle you can dilute it to taste, but you’ll get pints and pints of lovely refreshing squash out of one bottle and … well, let’s face it, I - no, we - drank a lot of squash. It is easy to carry back from the shops without a car, and it’s just… It’s just. I can’t believe I’m trying to explain why squash should be a reasonable proposition. It just IS.
It’s SQUASH. How can you NOT have squash? This is the state of mind I found myself in after the Nth fruitless (ha!) journey to yet another supermarket where we found things that were vaguely similar (no, Kool Aid is not the same, sadly) that I finally got swept under the wave of squash that had been chasing me all week.
“I just want some lemon squash. That’s all I want” I said to myself, quietly, on my armchair, and started crying.
“By the time the pilgrims reached Plymouth Harbour they must have finished all the Vimto. In 400 years they haven’t managed to replicate the technology needed to create squash.”
I twittered, or something like.
“Is that like juice? We have many good drinks. And all kinds of soda!”
Came the eminently sensible voice of someone on in my twittering community.
“Your juices are unbeatable in variety and quality, and your fizzy drinks are more than a girl could ever wish for. Right now, however, I really, REALLY want some squash.”
I whined.
She supplied me with the quote that tipped me over the edge when she directed me to Wikipedia and its assertion that:
‘It is worth noting that the concept of squash is generally met with confusion when put to North Americans (often to the surprise of UK citizens to whom squash made up a large part of their liquid intake, especially as children). There seems to be no suitable equivalent beverage by which an understanding can be reached.’
NOTHING? I thought. NOTHING? I asked around and no, not in regular shops; not really no. I could import it, I could buy it at four times the price in ’special British shops’ but I didn’t want to. I don’t want to waste money on stupid squash, and I don’t want to waste stupid food miles on squash. I just want - and this is where the argument gets a bit more fuzzy - I just want there to BE squash, because it is a good thing and nice and I know British people are a bit over-squashy in their squashing, but seriously, why not? Why NOT have squash?
And I sat and I wept. I wept for supermarket own-brand sugar-free lemon squash. I wept for home and for the things I knew and felt comfortable with. I wept for my friends and my family, and the life I had built and a community I didn’t have to be shy around. I wept and wept and wept; I wept for the amazingness of everything new and the sadness at having the broken things (but broken and within my comfort zone) left behind. I wept for not knowing how things worked, and not understanding a different culture and its different priorities - not worse, just different. I wept at the overwhelmingness of new sounds and smells and not knowing what brand of coffee bean I liked anymore, but having 500 to choose from. I wept because there is a deluge of wonderful new experiences and I am scared that I am too cautious and shy to enjoy or appreciate them. I wept because I didn’t know when the bin goes out and I don’t know where the bus stops or where it goes. I wept because I am not that great with change, really. Though I am trying quite hard because I want this a LOT, for myself and especially for my beloved.
But I didn’t know I wept for those things.
As far as I was concerned, I wept for squash.
My Beloved woke up from a nap and found me in a little puddle in the corner of my chair, still weeping. He wrapped me up in his arms and rocked me and asked me what was wrong.
It took a few minutes until he figured out I was mumbling “Squash. Squash. I just want some lemon squash. Why can’t they have squash?”.
And then, bless him, he managed to stop laughing for long enough to hug it out of me.
Coming soon, chapter two in the moving continent handbook: the seven stages of homesickness as particularly related to squash.
I am laughing with tears in my eyes. And I am sure that you will conquer this homesickness (and America) with or without squash.
(I once had to explain to a Dutch family of very limited English what squash is and why, if they wanted orange juice, they had to look for something that wasn’t in a two litre bottle).
Comment by Lisa — 17 September, 2008 11:53 pm
Oh lordy lady, I am all of a tear. You really are a big lovely you know.
Comment by Miss T — 18 September, 2008 12:06 am
Oh dear… It’s always the little home comforts. When I worked in the middle east some moons ago it was the dearth of christmas fodder that got to me. How I jumped for joy when a small gift pack of 1 tiny xmas pudding and a small christmas cake form Marks & Sparks slipped through Saudi Customs and arrived on my desk. Anyway, Don’t know if this helps but a quick google of squashing turned up the following:
Homemade Lemon Squash
1oz citric acid
4-5 lemons
just under bag sugar
1pt boiling water
put citric acid and sugar in a large bowl pour over boiling water. stir until dissolved.
halve lemons and squeeze out juice and pips into bowl. put lemon skins in too.
cover and leave overnight.
strain all pips and lemon skins and bottle.
keep in fridge. dilute to taste.
makes about 1 and half litres
Dunno if it’s any good.. but remember as a flag bearer of the English way of life, it matters not how well supplied you are, there must always be something essential that has to be improvised. I do symathise though.
Comment by Simon — 18 September, 2008 12:20 am
Oh Anna, you’re right, squash makes the world go round. I’ll send you a squash care package for Xmas x
Comment by LizSara — 18 September, 2008 12:45 am
squash - it might be worth trying this place, at least calling them:
Shanahan’s Market & Deli - 500 Kirkham St, San Francisco (415) 731 0982
I lived in San Francisco for a summer about 10 years ago now and this shop was amazing - it had absolutely everything. I remember going in looking for cadburys and crisps and standing looking in amazement at their range with an Irish builder beside me who commented on how it “would just bring a tear to your eye”. It even somehow magically had irish sausages and rashers.
Comment by dee — 18 September, 2008 12:47 am
They should have given you a weekly column in G2 to share your experiences!
Comment by Alan in Belfast — 18 September, 2008 12:49 am
The Americans have put the kibosh on squash?!
Tosh! That won’t wash.
Just fork out four times the dosh.
Comment by Swineshead — 18 September, 2008 1:13 am
Cordial. Have you tried asking (or looking) for cordial?
Comment by chairwoman — 18 September, 2008 1:49 am
You might find my friend Jen’s blog ‘Alien Spouse’(http://www.alienspouse.com) amusing, possibly even comforting. She moved to the US last year to be with her American husband, and often muses about these kind of missed home comforts. She just discovered she couldn’t get hold of Pimm’s and was similarly upset!
Comment by Rowan — 18 September, 2008 1:57 am
it really is the simple things isn’t it?? i remember being given watered down fruit juice at a friends house after school once and its not the same…i live on the stuff!! but have to say 500 different types of coffee to try??? bring it on!!
Comment by felicity b — 18 September, 2008 2:10 am
Aw. Bless you, you lovely thing.
And have a {{{HUG}}}.
PS Maybe squash/cordial was phased out for being too economical, and so that its absence could force people to buy twenty or even forty bottles of juice or ‘pop’ instead of one simple container of cheap and homely squash?
Comment by clare — 18 September, 2008 2:14 am
PPS. I read your entry in You’re Not The Only One yesterday. I know I’ve read it before, but still. It is BRILLIANT. That is all.
Comment by clare — 18 September, 2008 2:15 am
(It was the ‘you lovely thing’ made me think of it)
(and yes, I know, I really must stop this tedious habit of leaving several comments in a row)
(but it would be so boring to think before I type).
Comment by clare — 18 September, 2008 2:16 am
Oh yeah. I often wander round Belgian supermarkets crossly muttering because they just don’t have My Stuff. Like, the right kinds of yoghurt. Plain! Greek! 2%! Or, oooh, shreddies.
You will be ok. Work out where they hide the tinfoil and you’re doing ok. It took me a year. Is hard what you are doing, but you are doing great.
Comment by Jaywalker — 18 September, 2008 3:28 am
Sadly Vimto is a foreign concept to anyone not of British extraction. I don’t drink squash, but my husband and children do, and they only really like Vimto. It’s a challenge alright.
When I was a kid we used to have those humongous bottles of squash with the kind of built in handle (if you know what I mean). My mum once teased my brother by ‘pretending’ to pour it over his head. The lid was loose and he ended up flooded with two litres of undiluted orange barley. It was a stickfest.
Sticky hugs to you
Comment by Katyboo1 — 18 September, 2008 3:41 am
Oh Anna what a beautiful post. I am only moving to bloody Manchester, where they have all the squash you could want, and I am terrified. It’s the leaving the people I don’t have to be shy around that I am scared of. Because I am a confident person but I am still scared. I am a anxiety-depressive too and I worry that it will all be too big and rainy and there won’t be enough buses and my shoes will be wrong and I will miss London.
This post is so honest, and what’s lovely about it is that you are being kind to yourself about it. You’re allowed to miss squash.
Comment by Léonie — 18 September, 2008 3:41 am
Ouch. I’ve been there. (Not with squash, but with the homesick, and the adjusting, and the lack of the things you take for granted…) It will get better.
Re squash: I’m not really a squash fan, so this probably won’t help you at all, but on the “many glasses of refreshing drink from one bottle” note - my own Beloved and I have a habit of splashing a small amount of orange juice into a glass, and topping up with water. Much nicer than plain water, but more refreshing (and cheaper) than drinking pure juice.
Comment by scroobious — 18 September, 2008 3:56 am
I come via Aquaronical…
Recipe for barley water:
http://www.recipesource.com/side-dishes/beverages/00/rec0037.html
Which, incidentally, is good for cystitis.
Plus, a bit of googling around got me this Mexican drink, which is basically a bit like squash.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aguas_frescas
Honestly, fancy not having squash. americans are wierdos. Not enough tea, either! I understand the heathen barbarians don’t have kettles as a general rule! Disgraceful. *winky grin*
Hope this furthers your squashy quest.
aster13 (on lj)
Comment by aster13 — 18 September, 2008 4:03 am
Do what you want, in your own good time. Sorry about the squash, try gin and tonic, they definitely have that…and do keep your wits about you on the bus, please.
Comment by dr. haus — 18 September, 2008 4:25 am
They don’t have squash?
Look America, I know we tease you about not using the word fortnight or Autumn or wardrobe, but really. Get some squash.
Comment by Anna F — 18 September, 2008 4:43 am
I’m so sorry there is no squash - I too am a squash addict - it’s got to be Robinsons High Juice and it’s got to be orange. They stopped stocking it at my local supermarkets a while back and I was having an anxiety driven panic attack for a couple of days (what else would I drink??) but then discovered I could by it online - now I order in bulk and the delivery man looks at me oddly - but at least I have squash - are we allowed to post you some through customs??
Comment by Faye — 18 September, 2008 4:50 am
Thank you for this.
Although I do not see myself ever in a puddle over missing something, I hope I will be close enough to hug it out of them, when my beloved girls start crying about the things they will miss.
This is another reminder of something I should take care of. “Anxiety-based depression” you say? Now I know it has a name…
Comment by neutrino — 18 September, 2008 5:03 am
You would wonder how a nation waging a permanent war against boredom would find water interesting enough.
Cheers.
(Oh no - not cheers. The opposite of cheers.)
Arse.
Comment by Cliff — 18 September, 2008 5:10 am
Tang?
Comment by drew — 18 September, 2008 5:12 am
Business opportunity! Off to US “Dragon’s Den” you go!
(Peter “The Teeth” Jones is still in the US one, so you’ll have a friendly face to look at)
Comment by MisssyM — 18 September, 2008 5:37 am
Blackberry & Apple squash mixed with a weak solution of chilled, unsweetened lemonade; serve with sliced fruit for added effect. Do not use ice, just make sure the whole thing is cold. It’s the most refreshing thing since refreshing things were invented. Oh yes. :-)
Comment by Brennig Jones — 18 September, 2008 5:41 am
We have a Polish guy at work who bought squash when he first arrived in the UK, and got a bit of a shock when he tried to drink it neat. Squash appears to be one of the most peculiarly British things available, but tea gets all the press.
Comment by martian77 — 18 September, 2008 5:55 am
my last boyfriend used neat lemon barley squash to make lemon chicken for dinner rather than real lemon juice thinking that it would be the same as lemon juice. squash is great but only for drinking. hope you have some luck in that shop listed up there.
Comment by dee — 18 September, 2008 6:23 am
When I moved to New York, I went through a similar thing for pineapple pizza.
Really, that’s it. I’m in the home of pizza, the best pizza in the world - and you just can’t find anyone willing to put a pineapple on it. They put ziti on their pizza, for the love of all that’s holy, but no pineapples.
Because apparently fruit doesn’t belong on pizza. Pasta, but not fruit.
*sigh*
Comment by Charlotte — 18 September, 2008 6:31 am
They have squash (proper squash!) in my local supermarket. They usually have lemon (I can never find peach, which is the only one I want) and I would be happy to send you some bottles from NYC.
Comment by Sarah — 18 September, 2008 6:45 am
ok, weird twilight zone moment. Literally SECONDS before reading this post, my beloved rang to ask if I needed anything from sainsbury’s, and I asked for lemon squash. So it seems, lovely anna, that I am destined to consume all your squash for you, like a cordial foreign exchange. I shall take this responsibility very seriously. Hxx
Comment by Hfactor — 18 September, 2008 7:50 am
I just came across your blog. After moving in July from Seattle, WA to London I can completely relate to your meltdown! I thought I was strong, but it’s hard
As an American not knowing what squash was, I’ve quickly become addicted to the lemon squash (they make sugar-free!?) you mention. I just thought that sweet-n-sour mix might be similiar. It is used for margaritas so you’d find it in the “mixer” section at the supermarket. It comes in a similar type bottle too. Try it out, I think it might be close!!
Comment by Hillary — 18 September, 2008 9:15 am
Hi, I’m from San Francisco (ok, Berkeley, actually), but now live in London.
Squash is a lot like aqua fresca, which is a Mexican drink. You can find it at hispanic markets or at any burrito shop. I’m sure you’re aware there’s a cluster of them by 16th and Mission. I don’t know if aqua fresca comes in lemon flavor. It has watermelon and a few others. I always get the horchata, which is made from rice and is nowhere to be seen in England, alas.
Comment by Les — 18 September, 2008 9:40 am
Les - I discovered Aqua fresca yesterday! Although, to be fair, when in a burrito shop I still default to the general British ex-pat position and get some Mexican coke if they have any; it’s much more like the coke we have at home (made with sugar) than the US coke (made with corn syrup) that just tastes funny. Not *bad*, obv, as it is ‘the real thing’ etc. Just funny to our tastes. And while Mexican Coke is even more sugary than ours in the UK, it is still much more similar and familiar etc.
Thank you all, you are lovely. I am currently drinking a lot more plain old water than usual, and repeating a mantra to myself about how plain old water is healthier anyway. It is almost working.
Comment by anna — 18 September, 2008 9:55 am
Lucky, you happen to live in the only city where I think it can be found:
British American Imports
726 - 15th St,
San Francisco
CA: 94103
Tel 415-863-3300
FAX 415-863-1495
Toll Free 1-888-480-8276
baimp@earthlink.net
Comment by Stephanie — 18 September, 2008 9:58 am
Apologies:
the rest: http://www.britshoppe.com/info.html
Comment by Stephanie — 18 September, 2008 9:59 am
Stephanie - thank you!
Hurrah. If it gets really ridiculously bad I may toddle down there and fulfil my whims at great price. But in the meantime I must try and be stoic and learn to like the things that ARE available (because they are wonderful and great and varied. Because inner voice of my mother says ‘They charge HOW much?!’
But it’s good to know it’s out there. It’s always about what these little things represent than the things in themselves, I guess.
Comment by anna — 18 September, 2008 10:04 am
Also I’m not sure I can bring myself to shop anywhere that puts an extra p and an e in shop. It’s a matter of principle.
Comment by anna — 18 September, 2008 10:05 am
Yes! We are conquering the world one sad, squashless ex-pat at a time. You will drink our overpriced, burnt coffee and you will line up for our soggy, sugar enriched fries (fries damn you! FRIES!!) and you will listen to our whiny tweeny popstars… oh yes, you will indeed…
Comment by Megan — 18 September, 2008 10:30 am
By the way, someone left a nice comment involving Pimms (there’s NO PIMMS either?!) and it seems to have been unfathomably eaten by my over-zealous spam filter.
So if you could try leaving it again?
Comment by anna — 18 September, 2008 10:35 am
*snif*
Now I’m heartbroken that there’s now squash, and I don’t even know what it is and probably wouldn’t like it if I did!
There, there.
I hope you find some, or a reasonable facsimile thereof, soon. It’s terrible to have so much new stuff all at once, and you’re really being very brave. (Seriously. I toy with the idea all the time of moving to some far-away locale, but I get hung up on the notion that I’d have to leave my houseplants.)
Comment by elayne — 18 September, 2008 11:23 am
PS comment #9 is about Pimm’s, and a link about another ex-pat; was that it?
Comment by elayne — 18 September, 2008 11:24 am
or Pimms. Not sure of the apostrophe.
no more commenting for me.
(Clare, you are not alone.)
Comment by elayne — 18 September, 2008 11:25 am
How exciting and unsettling your life must be right now. And you are right; it’s not just the Squash. Or the Pimm’s. Or the corn syrup in the Coke. It is the sum totality of all these tiny changes that wells up and overtakes you at times.
I suspect you will eventually find something among the five hundred varieties that you like and will miss when you’re gone.
Comment by Liesl — 18 September, 2008 12:22 pm
They carried orange squash in the “British” section (not the beverages section)of my local grocery store here in Brooklyn Heights, NY. I would send you some if the grocery store hadn’t burned down earlier this year.
Comment by Amy — 18 September, 2008 12:32 pm
Oh lor’! My one Beloved is a big drinker of squash and is probably unprepared for its absence. I shall link him this posting now to prepare him for his impending loss.
There is Pimms in SF BTW - I’ve found at least one bar that sells it. It’s the Market Bar in the Ferry Building.
Comment by Jon — 18 September, 2008 12:35 pm
Elayne - you are right, of course. I am a big silly. There it is, at #9. It must have snuck in there when I approved it. Thank you.
Amy - Someone BURNT IT DOWN? This squash issue is more contentious than we all could ever have dreamt it was! It is like that thing with the harbour and the tea all over again, except sweeter and more fruity!
In other news, I have found some carbonated water with a hint of lime, which is JUST like lime cordial. Except more expensive and stuff, obvs.
Comment by anna — 18 September, 2008 12:38 pm
Jon - is there? Hurrah! We shall all have to meet up there some time for a ‘brand new san franciscans’ meeting. Without all our cats, of course, but anyone else. We will all meet there one day at Pimms O’Clock, I say!
Comment by anna — 18 September, 2008 12:42 pm
What - water? I hope you are not drinking tap water, when we have dozens of brands of different bottled water. Especiallt since they all taste the same anyway.
Comment by JoeInVegas — 18 September, 2008 1:09 pm
I never liked Vimto, even before I was told it’s an anagram of vomit…
Sorry, but you know that thing =======>
looks a lot like the Forth Bridge?
Anyway. Stiff upper lip. You’re very brave going to Merka at all, you know.
Comment by Mr Farty — 18 September, 2008 3:03 pm
Aw. Poor Anna. Squashless Stateside.
They don’t have clams here. The bastards.
They have Rose’s Lime Cordial, though. Would that be any help?
Comment by Dawn — 18 September, 2008 8:31 pm
When I moved here, to the UK, from Australia, it was flavoured milk. Oh, how I wept for flavoured milk. Sure, there’s flavoured milk here, but just not like there is in Australia, and the stuff that is here has ’stabilisers’ in it, and thickeners, which taste horrible. In Australia it’s just milk with flavours in it, and yes, the flavours settle on the bottom, but you just shake the carton….
I wept because my internal map had shrunk to a one block radius. I didn’t know to turn left or right at the end of the street for the shops. All the houses look the same and I couldn’t drive to the airport because I didn’t know where it was.
But I do now. And it is all OK.
Comment by suburbanhen — 19 September, 2008 2:04 am
I feel your squashless pain, Anna. I used to take bottles of Robinsons Lemon Barley Water back to Hungary with me.
Comment by Karen — 19 September, 2008 3:37 am
Oh my God, I soooooo feel your pain. There’s no squash in Germany either. And I want some!
Comment by Bev — 19 September, 2008 8:31 am
As I mentioned in another comments thread, I’ve just moved to NYC from London and I have been SO bereft without squash. Especially when it was so insanely hot here over summer and the tap water just doesn’t taste that nice, and I was so thirsty all the time..
After I read this I had a little homesick-squash-weep all of my own.
New York people who have said you can buy squash here… WHERE????
Comment by Lynne Miles — 19 September, 2008 9:21 am
When I lived in Botswana, I used to buy horrendously over-priced Heinz baked beans, just because they were the only brand that tasted right.
Comment by Andria — 19 September, 2008 2:47 pm
LOL yep, never heard of squash other than the vegetable kind here!
Comment by Julie — 19 September, 2008 3:12 pm
If it’s like cordial, I can buy bottles of elderflower cordial and probably some other flavors too, but I like the elderflower, at a dingy little warehouse-like place near my office in Seattle. There has to be a similar something in San Francisco. You just haven’t found it yet.
Comment by Molly — 19 September, 2008 3:13 pm
http://sanfrancisco.citysearch.com/profile/867798/san_francisco_ca/the_british_grocery.html
Comment by Molly — 19 September, 2008 3:21 pm
Bingo! http://www.britshoppe.com/britbev.html#top
Comment by Molly — 19 September, 2008 3:23 pm
You are lovely, all of you - honestly, without getting into a world of me being picky (well THAT’s different or THAT’s not sugar-free) I really will learn to cope without it (unlike vegemite, which is a different matter entirely) rather than pay over the odds for something so silly.
And anyway, isn’t part of the whole experience of being in a whole new place all about finding new things and new comforts?
Yes it is. So I will stop being silly and move on. I think the squash was just a funnel for my homesickness, I really do. See? I am in the final stages of grief: acceptance and moving on.
Thank you, though. You’re all very very lovely.
Comment by anna — 19 September, 2008 3:29 pm
O! I remember the feeling of squash-induced homesickness. Except with me it wasn’t squash it was cheese. Proper cheese with a texture that wasn’t like shiny plastic. Cheese that actually tasted of something. And bread without added sugar. It took me three months to find any and when I did I sat down and ate a whole loaf, a packet of brie and half a packet of cheddar in one glorious, heart-atttack-inducing sitting.
Good luck with your hunt for the squash.
Comment by Cherry — 22 September, 2008 2:36 am
Cherry - where can such bread be found? Why the FUCK is everything sweet in this country? Sweet bread, sweet baked beans…
Comment by Lynne Miles — 22 September, 2008 9:11 am
When I lived in Japan, the ex pats and I were desperately homesick for Branston pickle. We found an outlet, 4 hours from where I lived and we would place orders with any one heading in that direction. An American friend became similarily obessed and we had cheese and cracker parties whenever we got a delivery.
I feel your pain. My sis now lives in Michigan with two kids, and I hope they come home soon and can experience a bit of squash magic (and Branston if they so desire) soon.
incidentally I went to the wedding of the American Branston addict recently and wrote to Cross and Blackwell - or whatever the multi national is that owns them now is called - they sent me a t-shirt for him, which was nice. Maybe you could write to Robinsons and explain your dilemma?
Comment by mandi — 5 October, 2008 12:02 pm
I know it’s been a while since you posted about this, and have stoically moved on; but today I found something that might be your beloved Squash. I didn’t see the word Squash on the bottle but it was by a brand called Robinson’s. Might it be what you’re looking for? they had several different types. It was just my regular grocery store, not a fancy imports store at all. it was about $7. If you’re still missing it like mad we could probably work out a way for some to find you down there in S.F. I’m just up the coast a bit in Olympia, Washington.
Comment by kathleen — 9 October, 2008 12:58 pm
I wonder if squash is anything like michigans faygo brands.
Have you ever tried crystal lite?
I’ve heard people compare tang to squash. I think tang is still sold. It’s more of an orangy thing though. I’ve never had either so I dont know.
Yeast extract is just a fancy delivery system of msg (which gives people arrhythmia anyway so poo) so you can probably just cook some hamburgers, keep the scrapings and add some msg to it (they sell it in powder form at stores).
Comment by F — 30 October, 2008 3:22 pm
Sadly Vimto is a foreign concept to anyone not of British extraction. I don’t drink squash, but my husband and children do, and they only really like Vimto. It’s a challenge alright.
This is surprisingly untrue: I found Vimto (cans and bottles) in a Lebanese grocery in upstate South Carolina. Vimto is apparently the nag’s nadgers in the Middle East, especially around Ramadan.
I found the poshest branch of the local supermarket has a small, slightly sad ‘British food’ section which includes Robinson’s orange/lemon barley water. This made me happy. The price, not so much. But, still.
And yes, they have Pimms, but no, they don’t have lemonade. When summer comes, get cans of original Fresca, because they’ll just about do.
Comment by nick s — 1 December, 2008 4:10 pm
if squash is the same as robinsons barley water it can be found at military base commissaries….i dont know where you live but if you have any military friends ask them to check it out for you… hope this helps!!!!
Comment by L2 — 30 January, 2009 1:00 pm
you can get squash at many british groceries stores:
e.g. Myers of Keswick in NY. Just search on google for British groceries and whatever state you are in. Also try the embassy.
http://www.myersofkeswick.com/Products/Drinks.html
Comment by coz — 5 July, 2009 2:19 pm
Hi Anna,
Three friends and I just spent two months travelling across the States.
Now when one of these friends (who was already over there having just done three months of summer camp) first told me they didn’t sell squash anywhere, naturally I laughed, and no doubt said ‘pull the other one’ or something similar.
So I’d just like to say I can’t empathize enough. Even after weeks of being there, and having been from town to town, shelf to shelf I was still in denial, still adamant that we would find it…
Alas the day came that we had to come home, and as sad as I was about leaving, I was also sad to have to finally admit defeat and accept the shocking truth.
Still, every cloud and all, I’ve been at home a week and already polished off a whole bottle of Robinsons High Juice.
Hope you’re coping OK… Chin up!
Comment by Alex — 3 November, 2009 3:06 pm