Twinings: 2002

216 Strand is a place you should visit if you are in London.  It has been the home of Twinings for more than 300 years; Twinings, of course, being a tea seller.  Until 1956 Twinings only sold loose leaf tea; 1956 saw the development of their tea bags.  This is why I like this tea towel so much, an old advertisement for loose leaf tea.  Tea bags had never been thought of in 1899, thank goodness.  I can’t think of a way to describe tea bags that sums up the strength of my feeling towards them: it could be ‘loathe’ or ‘detest’ or ‘abhor’ or despise’ but it still doesn’t do it for me.

I think a tea bag is a disgusting way of presenting tea.  It is the way in which customers are cheated.  I resent paying £1.95 for a pot of tea and discover that there is just one tea bag in the pot; the mark-up on this is enormous.  Having been on a Tea Tour in Sri Lanka, I was disgusted to see what grade of tea went into a tea bag – Dust.  The Sri Lankan’s just laugh at the British who are willing to buy a tea bag with such rubbish in it.

A few years ago, I wanted to know just how much cheaper a tea bag was in comparison with loose leaf tea; I assumed that the tea bag would be cheaper.  However, I was proved wrong; loose leaf tea, not only much better quality tea, but also considerably cheaper.  I was delighted!

The fact is I like tea, all sorts of tea, lots of tea and definitely not coffee.  My favourite is Rwandan Tea, I like African tea but I enjoy Rose Petal tea and Moroccan Tea.  Mango black tea is good.  In the afternoon, Earl Grey Tea goes down well.  On a special occasion, Russian Caravan or Gunpowder is good.  But all this is no good if it appears in a tea bag.

Tea should never be destroyed by a Bag!

Bakewell Pudding: 2006 onwards

Bakewell Tart and Bakewell Pudding are not the same thing; their common denominator may be that they originate from Bakewell in Derbyshire.  There is a mysticism associated with Bakewell Pudding: when did it originate? who made the recipe? who were the first consumers of it? what is the recipe?  The answers are all myths and legends.  The first Bakewell Pudding was supposedly created by mistake, by the cook in the White Horse Pub, the cook having misheard the instructions but it turned out well.  A woman in the village heard about this, got the recipe and set up a business producing Bakewell Pudding but claiming there was a secret ingredient, not divulged to this day.  The dates attributed to this mistake vary between 1802 and 1860; this cannot be confirmed because the White Horse was demolished in 1800s so there are no records.

With a secret ingredient, it is interesting that you can join the Bakewell Pudding Experience and learn how to make them.  I have two tea towels of the Bakewell Pudding recipe, both very different in style and ingredients.  The older one, bought in 2006, above, states that it is from The Old Original Bakewell Pudding Shop and  says, at the end of the list of ingredients “And finally a pinch of ….”.  This recipe is in ‘old money’, ounces.  The later version, bought in 2018, uses grams and makes no reference to any secret ingredient.  Whatever, a Bakewell Pudding is simply delicious, possibly extremely high in calories and nothing at all like a Mr Kipling Bakewell Tart.

While in 2008, an application was made for PGI status for the Bakewell Pudding, this does not seem to have been successful so they rely on the ‘secret ingredient’ as being the distinguishing factor for the Bakewell Pudding.  I love the idea of this ‘secret ingredient’, a recipe handed down through time, part of history, a tradition; something I love eating but would never make.

Stand Up To Cancer (3): 2019

“Have your Pooh Sticks arrived?” Pete asks several days before my 60th birthday.

”Yer what?” I reply, thinking ‘what the hell is he talking about?’.  I have, in my mind’s eye, the picture in ‘House at Pooh Corner’ with Winnie the Pooh leaning over the bridge dropping his stick in the water.  My mind drifts off to the Pooh Sticks World Championships, and Disney Productions supporting the repair of the original bridge where Christopher Robin played Pooh Sticks with his father.

I’d better get back to this conversation.  “What do you mean?” I ask, in a less ignorant fashion.

Pete is never put off by me not following one of his conversations.  “Have you had your letter yet?  The one telling you all about it”

”Telling me about what?”

”You really don’t know, do you?.  You’re in for a surprise”

Now I wanted to know.  “What sort of surprise?  This isn’t about Winnie the Pooh, is it?”

”On your 60th birthday” Pete laughs “the NHS sent you a stool sampling kit, a kind of birthday present”.

Seriously, I’m still not following this.

Pete continues.  “It’s part of the preventative work for bowel cancer.  It starts on your 60th birthday then every two years after that”

”What do you have to do?”

”I’m not telling you that.  We’re eating.  The instructions with it are clear but my advice is buy some disposable plastic gloves”

I’d like to say that I was intrigued but, actually, I was getting quite anxious.  I’m not good with medical procedures.  As he predicted, the next day my letter arrived.  It told me what to expect in the next letter.  Two days later, the ‘Pooh Sticks’ actually arrived.  I read, and re-read, the instructions.  I’ve got to do this on three different days and have the samples already taken lying around. I think to myself.  What about health and safety?

I went out and bought my disposable plastic gloves.  I put all the kit in my bathroom; it is out of bounds to everyone until this task is completed.  Why is it that you may have regular bowel movements every day of the week until the ‘Pooh Sticks’ arrive and, suddenly, you are constipated.  The first day was unsuccessful, maybe the understatement of the year.  My neck went into muscle cramp (don’t even ask what I was doing) but I was not going to be defeated; this is probably one of the most important, and least intrusive, of the tests which are about catching cancer early.  After all, you can do it in the privacy of your own home, behind a locked bathroom door.

All completed, I post the envelope and think that if anyone was thinking of stealing post, they might come in for a shock when opening envelopes like mine.  The reality is that I would never avoid this test, the consequences could be deadly.  Thank you NHS and Cancer Research!

City of Aberdeen Girl Guides: Acquired 2015

“When are we going to the ‘Gang Show’?” I think it is at the end of March but it is not in the diary.

”’The Gang Show’?” Liz replies querilously

”Yes ‘The Gang Show’.  You know, you said you’d like to see it because you had interviewed someone who had been involved with it for a long time, part of the Oral History Project.  You remember?”

”Oh yes, I remember, but do you remember that we’ve already seen it?”

OMG, I think.  Do I remember this?  If I’ve seen it, why don’t I remember it?  I have two choices: ask Liz when it was or scroll through the diary, which is what I did.  It was 5 March, Pancake Day, the day of a Writing Workshop that I went to; maybe it was too busy a day for me to remember all that.  I clearly remember the Writing Workshop.  OMG.

”Do you really not remember?” Liz says, with a worried tone to her voice.  “It was only 17 days ago”

I think hard.  Why don’t I remember?  Maybe it’s because there are no ‘names’ in it.  It’s a group of Guides and Scouts singing.  It all comes back.  I said it would make a good tea towel blog, using the Aberdeen Girl Guides tea towel.  We both noticed they sung about ‘Our Chalet’; I have a postcard of ‘Our Chalet’.  Liz’s aunts were Guide Leaders, members of the Trefoil Guild and were presented with the tea towel at ‘Our Chalet’.

‘The Gang Show’ was really good, very enjoyable and great fun.  I am really sorry that I didn’t initially remember the show but I won’t forget it now!

Cliveden: 2005

I was at Cliveden House, in 2005, to celebrate my friend Gwyn’s semi-significant birthday.  Cliveden is one of those interesting properties, owned by the National Trust, but with a different purpose.

This is the third house built on this site: the first was built in 1666 but burnt down in the late 1700s; the second was built in 1824 but burnt down 25 years later and the third in 1851 which is now Grade I Listed.  This is the house where Lady Astor, first female member of parliament, lived; it is the house where John Profumo met Christine Keeler and the ‘Profumo Affair’ began.  I don’t want to write the whole history of Cliveden, because you can find out all you want to know on the internet.  But there are three things worth mentioning: (a) the National Trust has leased the house to a company that offer Cliveden as a five star hotel.  This means that National Trust visitors do not have free access to view the house although there are limited but well-publicised guided tours (b) there is an amazing Italianate six acre parterre, with 16 triangles edged by manicured yew topiary and box hedging, meticulously kept, which visitors can wander around and (c) in the hotel you can have a full Afternoon Tea.

In 2005, we had a fantastic Afternoon Tea in a small library, off the Great hall where a picture of Nancy Astor hangs above an incredible fireplace; there were four of us in this private area.  There was no time limit, take all the time you wanted.  Two types of scone with strawberry jam, three types of finger sandwiches, an array of miniature cakes and loose leaf tea.  You could ask for extra of anything served, sandwiches, cakes, tea, scones. But the most impressive part of the afternoon was being able to wander around the library, look at the books and sink into leather armchairs to enjoy the afternoon.  It was a great way to celebrate a birthday.

I remember the day as being very sunny so we wandered around the grounds and even had an ice cream at one of the kiosks.  On top of all that was the fact that they had a tea towel designed by Pat Albeck, you can’t get better than that!

Calendar (Girls): 2019

February 2018

It was strange that the posters said ‘Jekyll and Hyde’; I didn’t expect to see parties of children, looking as if they were on a school trip.  I expected the audience to be middle aged women, on a WI outing.

“This the right place for ‘Calendar Girls: The Musical’?” I asked tentatively at the Box Office.

“Yep, right theatre, wrong year”

“What?”, beginning to feel somewhat foolish, and more than a little disappointed.  I love a Frank Matcham theatre and His Majesty’s is one I haven’t been in.

Liz laughed and, to my horror, I found her texting her sister.  I would never live this down.

“At least we can tell Jean which week we are coming up next year”, my Pollyanna pose taking hold.

We trudged back to the hotel, in pouring rain, wearing the blue nylon BabyGrows.

December 2018

It suddenly occurred to me that the tickets for ‘Calendar Girls’ were booked when Liz could walk, and bend her knee.  I didn’t want to face the embarrassment of trying to change these tickets.

“I booked these some time ago, things have changed.  Would it be possible to exchange them for a wheelchair space, with ‘carer’?  It doesn’t have to be on the same day”, I said trying to be accommodating

“No problem.  But the wheelchair spaces are more expensive.  Best seats in the house”

“Fine”, I say, still trying to be accommodating but really wanting to have a good rant about equality issues.  We don’t get a choice, the theatre has chosen where these seats are.

January 2019

A flyer comes through my door announcing that ‘Calendar Girls’ is coming to Nottingham.  “Bloody hell.  Tickets would have been half the price!” I shout begrudgingly.

February 2019

I finally saw ‘Calendar Girls’, at last, in Aberdeen

March 2019

I have bought tickets for ‘Calenadr Girls’ in Nottingham, because the cast has changed and I want to see if it is still as good!

Stand Up To Cancer (2): 2019

It was 2 January 1979; it was very cold.  Overnight there had been a very heavy snow fall.  Many of the side roads were impassable but my journey involved the MI, from junction 25 to 22, a journey of 25 miles.  I set off very early because I thought there might be traffic jams.  The motorway was plain sailing because the gritters had been out; the roads off the motorway, 10 miles up the A50, were down to one lane and that was tricky.  I got to work on time but it was a good job I left home early because a journey that would normally take 30 to 40 minutes, actually took two and a half hours.  It was ok me being on time but no one else was there.  At least I had the ‘moral high ground’!

This was the day I was to meet Joan Halsey (who turned up an hour late because of the weather).  I’d heard about her, during the interview for the job; I’d heard about her when Geoff Cobbe told me I’d got the job; I heard about her while I was waiting for her to turn up.  She was a woman that everyone knew, everyone liked.  As I got to know her, I understood exactly why that was the case.

I’d applied for this job because it seemed liked the next stage for me; I’d worked in an Adult Training Centre for five years and now it seemed like a hospital would be a good idea.  I’d applied on the offchance.  I know the advert said “Qualified social worker preferable but would accept unqualified if they were prepared to train”.

“You’re unqualified” Geoff said.

Drrrrr… I knew that; it didn’t need him to tell me that.  I got the job; I suspect that no one else applied for it.  I promised to train, although I thought I would delay it as long as possible.

”Joan will be able to mentor you; she’s good and experienced” Geoff said.  However, they cheated on Joan because she wasn’t a Senior Social Worker, it wasn’t her job to ‘mentor’; there was no Senior Social worker in the team.  ‘Team’ is an unusual term for the set-up since there were only two of us (until I arrived Joan was on her own) and a hospital, on five sites cross the county, with over 800 patients.  But we did have a lovely office, in Mansion House, a Victorian building with original woodwork, doors, cornices, brass work and paintings.

Joan was one of those people who talked a lot, who started a story and assumed you knew the end of it, who shared her knowledge, who had a great sense of humour, who had good working relationships with everyone she came into contact with, who was professional but who patients absolutely adored, who was someone that everyone liked, who was 50, as she told me 10 minutes after she arrived, who was married with two adult daughters and who was back at work, after having 6 months off because she had cancer and had just completed a three month ‘phasing back into work’ period.  I should have known; she had that very short, incredibly curly hair, often associated with the after-effects of chemo.  It had only just grown back.  She had had an operation to remove a tumour “the size of a two kilo bag of sugar”, as well as a hysterectomy, chemotherapy, radiotherapy and tablets.  But it was over now; she told me she was fine.  The internet wasn’t around in those days, where you can look everything up; you just relied on what the doctors told you.  She didn’t know that the prognosis for Ovarian Cancer, at the stage it was discovered, was very poor and extremely life-limiting.

Joan did mentor me, in her own inimitable way; she supervised me, she shadowed me and she advised me.  I often wondered, later on, whether she did think she needed to pass on as much information as possible, in as short a period of time as possible, because she wasn’t going to be around much longer.  I was lucky enough to work with her for more than a year; one day she went on the sick and never came back.  Three months later she was dead.  As soon as she became ill, I knew it was to do with the cancer returning virulently.  I saw her in the first month of her sickness and was horrified at how much weight she had lost, how thin she looked, how haggered she looked.

When Joan told me on that first day that she had just returned to work after having cancer, I remembered Geoff’s remark on the day of the interview “you’re unqualified”.  I thought how ‘brave’ he was, taking on an unqualified Social Worker, in a team of two, where there was a strong likelihood that one of the team would be off sick again, and there was no Senior Social Worker.

When she died, I seemed to act as a conduit for information to pass from the family to be disseminated by me: cause of death, funeral arrangements, flowers, cards to be passed to the family, clearing her office of her personal possessions, dealing with upset patients who she had worked with, a memorial……. It was the first time I had had to deal closely with the death of someone I had regarded as a close friend and how you become invisible to everyone while they are dealing with their own issues.  I still can feel how difficult that was, today.

The one thing that I remember about her funeral was that it reflected her; it was full of loud hymns that everyone knew and could join in with.  That was something I learnt for later events in my life.  It was the first funeral where I had sung ‘All things bright and beautiful’ and ‘Lord of the Dance’.  In fact, ‘Lord of the Dance’ is a hymn that will always remind me of her.  The family asked me to sort out her things at work; they didn’t want to come into the office.  I remember she had a bookcase, a whole load of social work text books, a hand embroidered book mark, a picture frame holding a photograph of her family, an engraved pen, a diary, a small vase and a pebble.  They asked me if I wanted the bookcase, the bookmark and the books, which I did.  40 years later, the bookcase sits in my lounge with many of my travel books on it; the social work text books, somewhat out of date, last year went to the National Trust bookshop and the bookmark is in my bedside table.

I only wish Joan had been diagnosed with cancer in today’s climate, where the prognosis is so different and she may even have been able to celebrate her 90th birthday this year.

 

Clumber Park: 2019

Today, I want to thank the National Trust and, in particular, Clumber Park.  Clumber Park has taken me back to the early 1980s, when I first joined as a member, when you could buy a tea towel that just related to the property, that you could use and be reminded of a great day out.  Over the last few years, the National Trust has moved towards more generalised merchandise, that you could find in any property across the country.  I love that sense of having a day out and being able to buy a small souvenir that will last me a lifetime.  At Clumber Park there are two such tea towels, so thank you.

Thank you for being one of the most accessible properties that I have been to; proper paths that take you across the estate, paths marked out for short, medium and long walks.  Walks that are really suitable for a wheelchair, some small gradients where I think I will run out of steam but not too long that I want to stop.

Thank you for preserving, and maintaining, one of the biggest Walled Gardens that I have ever visited, properly pathed so that visitors can get to every part and admire the plants.   The Walled Garden is kept in a pristine condition and much of the food produced is used in the Garden Tea House.

Thank you for maintaining, and using, a greenhouse that is 450 feet long, and fully accessible, with fantastic tulips, hyacinths, daffodils, narcissi and espalier nectarines.  Off the long corridor are small ‘rooms’ storing old lawnmowers, terracotta flower pots of all sizes and an antique typewriter.  It is certainly like taking a step back in time.

Thank you for holding one of the largest collections of rhubarb in Britain with over 130 varieties, sometimes using the traditional terracotta forcing jars and sometimes not.  Thank you for the amazing orchards; I just wish I’d been there at apple picking time.

Thank you for the wonderful Serpentine around which there are many paths to enable visitors to watch the swans, geese, mallards and moorhens.  The pathways are clean and clear, no rubbish here.

Thank you for the Garden Tea House with two big steps into the building.  On the front door is a notice saying that if you need a ramp, just ask.  So I asked and it was immediately laid down.  Thank you for a tea room that is cosy but not overcrowded, allowing enough space for a wheelchair without getting in everyone’s way.  Thank you for a wonderful Clumper Rarebit with loose leaf tea.  I’ve never been to a National Trust property before that sells loose leaf tea; that was a wonderful surprise.

Thank you for the 3800 acres of land with the longest double Lime Tree walk in Europe, which is Grade I Listed.  Thank you for the ‘Cathedral in miniature’, or the Gothic-style chapel, the Pleasure Grounds and the imaginative use of the existing buildings.

Finally, thank you for the great staff and volunteers who are helpful, welcoming, informed and great fun.  This is a place I would always come back to because there is so much to see and do.

Action Moo: 2018

Do you remember the Opening Ceremony for the Paralympic Games in 2012, in London? More importantly, do you remember the music?  Beverley Knight sang “I am what I am”. Today, at Aqua Care, that was one of the pieces of music; everyone knew the words, everyone sang, including me.  It certainly got the joints and muscles going.  While originally written for the 1983 show “La Cage Aux Folles” by Jerry Herman, it has become the ‘signature’ tune for many people, among others John Barrowman and Gloria Gaynor.  The words are extremely adaptable, anyone who is different or is subject to discrimination can identify with them.  Lines like “I don’t want praise, I don’t want pity.  I bang my own drum, some think it’s noise, I think it’s pretty” are an anthem for anyone. It brings fire to the soul.

Over the last couple of months, Mondays have taken on a ‘new look’.  10 o’clock is Aqua Care at Bramcote Leisure Centre.  This is like aerobics in water.  It is a 45 minute class for people who benefit from exercise in water.  Great teacher who is able to tailor a class to cater for people with different levels of movement.  There’s a hoist that gently lowers you into the water with grace and elegance.  It’s a good way to make sure that you are up, and raring to go, by a reasonable hour in the morning.  In the back of my mind, I have always thought I would link a Blog about Aqua Care to a tea towel; it was just a case of waiting for the right one to come along.  And I think this one does it!

The thing about Aqua Care is that I don’t actually take part; I may love it but don’t join in.  There is no way you would get me in a swimming pool but I would have to say that both the teacher and other participants are very encouraging, and inviting.

Monday is when I take on a more traditional role; I enable Liz to take part.  This is really the only way in which she can maintain the muscle strength in her legs, legs she is no longer able to walk on.  The class lasts 45 minutes, and is quite exhausting.  I am able to sit on the benches where parents sit and watch their children take part in galas.  Most of the music is from the 1960s but “I am what I am” came as a great surprise.  It seemed so right for people who are often on the receiving end of negativity.

This, of course, ended with me watching YouTube listening to “I am what I am”, sung by Shirley Bassey, Beverley Knight, John Barrowman, Gloria Gaynor and George Hearn.  So a cute tea towel, not conventionally looking like a Highland Cow but full of action, combined with music for movement in water makes for a very happy day for me.

People’s Friend 2019 Calendar

This year is the 150th Anniversary of the magazine ‘People’s Friend’, the magazine that I remember Mrs Atkins used to read every week because she liked the stories.  Mrs Atkins didn’t have a lot of money; she used to get it, passed on from her sister who lived in Scotland.  She used to cook some of the recipes and share them with me.  Mrs Atkins was a ‘People’s Friend’ sort of a person.

’People’s Friend’ is the magazine that you find in every GP waiting room and some of the clinics for less popular conditions like arthritis and rheumatology.  You don’t see it lying alongside ‘Hello Magazine’ or ‘OK’ because it definitely doesn’t appeal to the same sort of reader, maybe a caravanning magazine or ‘Good Housekeeping’.  It’s not like ‘Woman’s Own’ where the number of pages has shrunk over the years while the price goes up; ‘People’s Friend’ is quite a hefty magazine, famous for it’s short stories, mainly based around Scotland.  This is because, for those that remember the old geography lessons, Dundee is known for the three ‘J’s: Jam, Jute and Journalism.  ‘People’s Friend’ is part of the DC Thompson empire, based in Dundee.

I bought this tea towel in the Aberdeen Journals shop, selling things related to DC Thompson publications.  As soon as I saw it I knew I had to have it.  It has an ‘old-fashioned’ air, much like the magazine, but with that sense of tradition, and popularity; the colour, the roses, the dogs and the watering can all contribute to that feel.

Because I have several 2019 Calendar tea towels, I planned that I would not use this at the end of the year, to summarise what happened, but rather to celebrate Liz’s significant birthday in February.  Liz had been very clear that she did not want a big party, just a meal out with close family so that’s what she did: her daughter and son-in-law, her grandchildren, sister and brother-in-law.  This was followed by a walk in the park, as they say.  It was a beautiful day for Bradgate Park.  Jai gave her a book for her writing, covered in cloth with stags heads on it, with book mark, and an engraved pen.  Liz wanted to use this as a dedicated writing book, somewhere to write every day, not necessarily great masterpieces but something every day; it was a habit she wanted to get into.  She has written poems, short stories, notes of inspiration and the ‘Three Things I Want to Achieve This Year’ list.  These are (a) write a play (b) make some recipes from a cook book that Fee gave her and (c) make some sourdough bread.

Liz is a bread-maker; she enjoys making bread, the process and the product, but has never attempted sourdough although loves eating it.  About 10 days ago she started this process, gingerly, not knowing how this was going to progress.  She checked with various bread-makers she knows and received a variety of responses: “yes, I started it but got bored, it took so long” and “if you manage to make the starter let me have some because I would love to have a go”.  She posted pictures on Twitter to check it was looking as it should and got some very positive feedback.  However, the first thing that happened was the ‘starter’ ‘grew’, and when I say ‘grew’, it overflowed from what was quite a large jug into the cupboard and over a very beautiful tea towel.  I then picked the ‘stuff’ off the tea towel in order to be able to wash it.  I cannot believe anyone one actually make sourdough bread; it is so complicated, involves endangering tea towels and makes for a huge amount of washing up.  Not only that, it takes 10 days!!  But Liz pursued; she pursued the six days of halving, and then feeding, this starter.  The jugs got bigger and it became very lively.  There is another two days of weird stuff like leavening, more tea towels in danger and finally baking it and it ends up as just two loaves of bread.  I have to say that it is just like sourdough bread, makes great toast and she has achieved one of the challenges she set for herself.  Will she make more?  I have asked her this and she is quite positive about this because she has a lot of ‘starter’ left; she knows how to feed it so it looks as though sourdough might be on the menu once again.

Does she feel satisfied with her efforts?  Yes I think she is and pleased that she has completed one of her three tasks already.  If the other two are completed I will be able to blog about it.