Fruit, Vetetables, and Ancient Passion

This entry is not going to include any politics. I might try and go a whole week without ranting about the government, we'll see how it goes. Today there will be mention of fruit and vegetables however, and ancient passion.

Let's start with the ancient passion. Picture the scene, St Malo, North West France 1982, I was 15 years old and on a school trip. We were there for a week and it was the Spring Equinox, wind, rain, broken sunshine. We were staying in a foul hotel called La Tivoli. And that is where I first noticed her. One month older than me, blonde, very pretty, petite. I can't think why I hadn't noticed her before. We attended all the same classes. Actually that's not quite true, she was one of the art set, and I was a scientist, but we were assigned the same form tutor and she sat behind me in Mr Hooper's English class. Perhaps it was the romantic location. Even a cockroach ridden hotel nestled in the unfashionable district of St Malo is romantic to a hormone doped 15-year-old.

Nothing really happened on the trip itself. We noticed each other, we talked, we may have held hands, I don't remember, but it was the start of a relationship that would last for another year. We split up just before we left school in 1983. It had been a fun year, but these things don't last when you are that age, and we went our separate ways. I went to study electronics at collage, she went to art school. We spoke a few times on the phone, bumped into one another once or twice, but in real terms we lost contact in the summer of 1983. I heard that she went to live in New Zealand with a husband and had a baby. I went to university, bummed about a bit and ended up in Taiwan.

And here's why I'm telling you this; while in Taiwan, I found her on Friends Reunited. I wasn't sure that I wanted to get in touch again. That was about five years ago, and she was something in my past. But I thought about it for a while, and eventually wrote her an email. She seemed pleased that I contacted her and we have exchanged emails maybe once a month since then. Last month she wrote to me to say that she was back in the UK for a while and would I like to meet. I really wasn't sure about it, but I said yes, and on Saturday I met her again, after 25 years, in Starbucks. It was really quite amazing. She hasn't changed much. She's a little more Bohemian and there are one or two lines, but I would have recognised her anywhere. I'm apparently much older, with a deeper voice, and fatter. The years were it seems not so kind to me.

I was going to post pictures from that week in France, and maybe do a then and now comparison, but it wouldn't be fair to post pictures of her without her consent, and finding those St Malo pictures would be a real bugger, but who knows, maybe I'll stumble across them and ask her permission. Anyway, that's how I spent two very pleasant hours on Saturday, and I wanted to record it, because it really was something a little bit special, and I'm glad I did it. The dragon was also glad because she took advantage of the fact that I could look after the boy and she coud go shopping without him.

So here's a piece of advice from your uncle Goblin. If an old friend, someone who really meant something to you, gets in touch, don't be scared, go and meet them. I can't say it wasn't awkward, but I've got so much running round my head now, so many old memories have leaped out of their boxes as a result. I'm sure you'll hear more about this in future entries.



So, on to fruit and vegetables then. Here is a picture of tomatoes ripening on the kitchen windowsill. They are little cherry tomatoes, and we have quite a lot more coming on the bush. I'm telling you that in case you think I'm a rubbish farmer that can only grow very small tomatoes. They are supposed to be that size. It's an Australian variety. I just like the picture. It was taken last night, and I am going to eat some of those very specimens at lunchtime.

OK sweetcorn, do Americans have another name for it? Doesn't matter, I'll call it sweetcorn and everyone will know what I mean. I went to Sainsbury's last week to buy sweetcorn because I like to put it in spaghetti bolognese sauce. They seem to do two own-brand varieties, one with the healthy sticker on the front, alerting us to the absence of added salt and sugar, and one without. On examination of the ingredients list in fact neither seems to contain anything other than sweetcorn and water. So, other than the fact that the one with the sticker is 7p more expensive, what is the difference?



Well, examining the health-wheel thing seems to reveal that there are in fact differences. I can understand small differences if the varieties of corn within the cans are different. What I can't understand is why the health wheel thing thinks that 6.1g of sugar is green (eat as much as you like), while 4.0g of sugar is orange (stop eating when you feel sick). It would suggest to me that the Sainsbury health wheel thing means very little, or at least the colour coding is inconsistent. Incidentally, if you believe the health wheel thing, the one with the healthy sticker has 2 more calories and almost twice as much fat. I'm going to write to Lord Sainsbury about this and see what he says. I'll keep you posted.

Until tomorrow shipmates!