Plucker’s Pie
This is another recipe for my daughters. It’s easy to make and tasty and uses left over chicken. I always buy a large chicken to roast, even for two of us. It makes sandwiches and at least one other meal so it’s very economical. The carcass can be thrown into the slow cooker with leeks, […]
Why would they think this is what we want?
They say a society is judged by the way it treats its elderly… but should it not be measured by the way it treats all its vulnerable people, young and old? I am probably stating the ‘bleeding obvious’ when I say that many cut backs intended to increase efficiency, do precisely the reverse. The result is that we are […]
Sexual press ups
When Mavis was about 4 she had a beloved friend, Peter. The two were inseparable, so much so that when they both went to school, the dinner ladies called them the little married couple. Sadly for Mavis, Peter moved away leaving her distraught. For years afterwards she struggled to make friends, but it seemed that the girl groups […]
The Demon Drink
Whizz is not much of a drinker. He will have the occasional beer, and drink wine at a dinner party or meal out but in the main he is, for me, a very valuable chauffeur. ‘Twas not always thus, though. When he was much younger, learning moderation skills, he went to a party and began […]
Now that’s what I call ‘customer service’
Some time ago, during my Friday evening fest of wine drinking and communing with Facebook, I reached a particularly engaged moment and knocked over my glass of wine. Oh no I thought as the glass evaded my grasp, there goes a whole glass of wine. What a waste. Then I saw the direction the wine was arcing. […]
Bed, Breakfast and Fine Dining
This has been an interesting summer. I have enjoyed it more than usual because a) I didn’t have a broken metatarsal and b) somewhat strangely, because we didn’t go away. The reason for our lack of exotic (or otherwise) holiday, was two fold: First, we couldn’t afford it. Things are finally looking up for us financially, […]
Wonder bra
When I was a teen, so absorbent, My friend and I would share our coins, To buy a magazine. We’d huddle on a bench – slatted, Or on a bank, with Mars wrappers – scattered, Cool pages across our knees, Glossy, exciting, promising Lives we would never live. Perfect bodies and laughing faces, Set in […]
The Incident of the Courgette
Funny things happen in life, and I am always keen to see the humour. This can be a bit unfortunate on occasion, but now that I write, I can at least have an unstifled giggle with hindsight. I once had a proper job, a career as a computer programmer and project leader. Despite a requirement […]
Walking the Dog in the Chalk Meadow
These daisies, Ox eyed, Damask and canary, Brushing my legs, They dance in soft air in their thousands, with devout faces that watch the sun wherever it hangs. Ecstatic worshipers, giving more attention than my small students. I dawdle through humming heat, searching for brave orchids among the tender vetch and yolk-ish buttercups. Butterflies: small, […]
On Gardening
When we moved into our house, the garden, like everywhere else, was in dire need of a makeover. The inside was our priority as it needed new floors, heating, plaster and so on, and to make matters more complicated, the week before we started working on it, Whizz was made redundant.