Our Phili-Pam

Hi Helen, I can't believe how well I'm feeling at present, physically. If only world events were easier.

Hi all, hi Helen, Helen, please turn your head to the wall. Breakfast is served. Pussy has just enjoyed hers, but wants more! Next week, I'm telling her. Just for the connoisseurs, Please notice the fish cutlery, along with Poole Pottery fish plates. Even pussy has her fish plate.

Hope you took all the bones out for her. That is what puts me off kippers.

Hi Anne, I had only the smallest bones which I ate. My friend John had a few in his pack. Pam & I would share a pack between us, so just me it was a large portion. I shared a whole fillet with puss. She's fast asleep now dreaming of catching herring. I'm sure that I do romance regards foods. Sat with Pam in Stonehaven, eating open grilled smokies, along with crusty tiger bread & butter, I'm drooling now just at the thought. Anyway back to reality, thank you for your comments.

I appreciate the warning Philip and was able to brace myself. Memories connected to smell and taste can be very strong.

I might just do that this afternoon!

Hi all, At a time when some folk are back from hols, some just going & some staying at home, I haven't slept away from home (hospital excluded) for around a decade, but I was more than happy to fund my sister-in-law along with Pam wherever they wanted to go. It was convenient doing that for many reasons, but everyone was happy. Someone has been on an island holiday, where my first Sunday School sweetheart lives. We have been in contact since by chance, I was the crematorium organist for a member of her family. We are now both widowed from devoted partners who suffered similar awful illnesses. She was a truly devoted wife. The music hall is lighting up in me, where I've the stage scene of wondering why we pack or stuff our best togs into bags, only to cart them around for hundreds of miles just to see a blade of grass somewhere else. Back to reality, the answer was impressed on me this evening, whilst waiting for guests to arrive for our curry, I was comfortably sat, not watching sea breakers, or ships going by, but in traffic on a main road. It doesn't have quite the same ring to it as, say, Polzeath.

Hi all, Hardly a picture goes on our forum that doesn't kindle a memory for me in the past. I'm a real life person, so sharing I hope that I don't cause offence, regards my experiences as a young child. My only contact with church folk, was my Methodist up-bringing. Straight laced, except for them wearing their shirt collar the wrong way round. I suppose boring! I remember going to a special service at a big church, all strange sounds, smells, it might have been Holy Trinity, but not sure, I was nearly five I think. My mum scolded me because so many heard me ask, why was the man wearing a dress & a doily. When I say scold, she was so angry.

I remember asking a huge amount of questions as a kid but this wasn't one of them. It must be because the TV taught me a lot. I wasn't taken to church regularly while I was very young but it all felt familiar when I went.

Ok, it's dinner time. I cannot do chips using salad potatoes, but what I’ve just enjoyed was fab. I suppose a variation on sauté potatoes. So what I call sort-of-potatoes. I had one piece of battered cod left in a box, so what I finished up with… With slightly bigger salad potatoes I could have sliced them, like mini-chips, boil for just ten mins, then brush with oil or lard & finish off in the oven. I like them better than branded oven chips. Isn't food nice!

I prefer sauté salad potatoes to oven chips.

Hi all, I popped into the Earl of Mercia, yesterday around lunchtime, convenient really as I was hungry. I do have a bias for visiting the Earl, I think most of you know about that. Anyway I enjoyed their 5oz gammon, with egg, tomato, open mushroom, peas plus a really nice touch, very fluffy mash potato. Along with a pint of Abbot, the lot for around £7, it was beautiful. I paid more for a sausage batch & tea in a cafe on Saturday. Good old Coventry. It was a dinner. That was the punch line of my enjoyment. Later in the week, I may see if they will substitute sausage instead of the gammon, only for a change.

Phillip I may not agree with you in matters religious, but, oh boy, you have my enthusiastic support when it comes to Pommy gammon steaks (they don't even know what it is in Australia!) and a pint of Abbot (fortunately, you can buy it by the bottle here, but that's not the same as on tap!). After almost 50 years, I still drool at memories of the gammon steaks at the Butchers Arms in Priors Hardwick. You could have a quiet drink before your meal and see next week's unfortunate meal trotting around outside! And I forget who it was, but someone very famous used to live there in the village. Fond memories that make Covid such a pain in the bum because we are unlikely to be able to replicate them! I'm SO jealous! Best wishes - and if you can set up some sort of gammon export business, I'll be your first customer!

Hi Sir, Please don't be jealous. So many of our romance pubs have disappeared like mist in the morning. Plus, if we were all of the same mind, discussion would be pointless. End of the forum to that conclusion, plus, so much is based on our own experience. Mine certainly is. Thank you so much for your reply. A reply with kindness. A lovely manner. Thank you. It's Wednesday morning here, your Wednesday is all but gone. Morrison's grocery day for me. All delivered, including some lemons to go with my kippers tomorrow morning. All put away. Lovely way to do shopping. A manthingy. Best wishes to all of you down under.

Hi all, Chatting with Johnnie, the mention of the Bury St. Edmunds brew, Abbot ale, what a nice subject. We have local beers brewed in our vicinity, but not always available at the bar. Timothy Taylor, Abbot, Worthington cream, are currently my favourites. These are generally available, in & around Coventry. I prefer red wine, Blossom Hill always goes down well. I enjoyed a tot of port whilst sat in my open air pub (my snug) last evening. I nodded off at one point, or was that six points. Cheers.