Little more than bullet points, as I’m going to bed early

Fourteen jars of quince jelly, five jars of quince jam and four jars of cotignac. Yum.

I spent an hour this afternoon climbing up and down a ladder picking apples. The Sage helpfully moved the ladder and took my basket from me when full, to save me extra trips up and down. We’ll hardly eat any of them ourselves, as I don’t do puddings usually – well, who does? – but I wasn’t brought up to. Many more to pick, but some of them are too high for me so the Sage is constructing an apple-picker.

Only seven of us at the PCC meeting tonight, so I advised that one third is a quorum. The PCC numbers 18 at present, which sounds a lot but there are a lot of ex-officio members, including me. I don’t know if one third is the actual quorum, but it is now.

I’ve got a whole long list of things to do as a result of the meeting, including writing minutes from very few notes, as I joined in the discussion quite a lot (and I’m usually so quiet, aren’t I Dave?).

I finally made an appointment with the doctor about my dodgy leg, and I’m going tomorrow. I can’t chicken out or you’ll berate me.

Shop-work tomorrow morning, which is good as my leg will then ache realistically. Once I’d phoned the surgery, it stopped hurting nearly so much.

I’ve a church service at 11 on Sunday (playing the clarinet) and at 3 (playing the organ). In between, my chum John and I have decided to go out for lunch. My treat this time.

Another evening without wine, this is a slightly worrying development as I don’t miss it. I did, however, prepare by having a small glass at lunchtime, just in case I lost the taste for it. I am drinking quantities of tea instead, and have realised that most of my liquid intake is normally alcoholic.

Goodnight xx

17 comments on “Little more than bullet points, as I’m going to bed early

  1. Dandelion

    Yeay, z! I came home drunk and there you were!

    We’ll hardly eat any of them myself

    I love this. It kind of goes with the picture of him moving the ladder and taking the basket.

    What is the church service at 3? Is it a baptism? Also, do Brownies still have Church Parade on the 1st sunday in the month?

    Wishing luck for a good outcome with the leg set-up.
    xx

    Reply
  2. martina

    What is cotignac? Is pudding what the English call applesauce? In the U.S. pudding is a usually creamy custard texture dessert served in a bowl or compote dish. Favorite flavors chocolate or butterscotch. Yorkshire pudding of course is called Yorkshire pudding over here too.

    Reply
  3. Z

    Oh blimey, it used to be that no one mentioned the lapses and I’d notice them myself later and could quietly correct them. Once they’ve been pointed out in the comments by you or Dave, I can’t without it being obvious. Nevertheless, I will this time as it’s too peculiar in a joined-at-the-hip way.

    The extra service is one inaugurated by our last Rector. Held on the Sunday nearest All Souls, it’s for people to remember loved ones who have died. It’s very well attended, and people who never normally come to church turn up, particularly those bereaved during the past year.

    No, Brownies don’t have a regular church parade, but they didn’t where I lived as a child either.
    Cotignac is a quince conserve – not as sweet as jam. You quarter a couple of oranges, simmer them with peeled & chopped quinces until all tender, hook out the orange, purée the quince, add sugar and cook until thickened, then pot.

    Pudding is the sweet course at the end of the meal. If it’s fresh fruit, you can call it dessert, but an apple pie or a trifle or treacle tart is a pudding. I suppose stewed apples with custard or cream could be called dessert at a pinch.

    Applesauce is applesauce. You eat it with roast pork.

    Reply
  4. Blue Witch

    Mr BW has been making quince jelly too. A Nice Lady left us 2 huge bags of quinvces on the doorstep, so it would be rude to waste them.

    I was always told (by Mrs Bouquet, aka my not-so-darling mother) that the word ‘pudding’ was the working class version of ‘dessert’. I shall have to investigate.

    Reply
  5. Z

    Fine, Dave, I won’t reply to the comment you haven’t made, then.

    BW, it depends on what the food is. Mrs Beeton calls them ‘sweets’ or the ‘sweet course’. Dessert should be a separate course of fruit etc – it can include nuts, petit fours and the like and now hardly exists unless you are seriously posh. If you cannot peel and eat a pear with a fruit knife and fork without touching it with your fingers, better avoided altogether. ‘Pudding’ has been the posher term than ‘sweet’ since the 1960s at least.

    Shall we move on to ‘napkin’ v ‘serviette’ and the various terms for the lavatory?

    Reply
  6. The Boy

    Ooo Ooo, word usage! One of my favourite topics. Z is, as always, correct. In the stratified society that is Enlgand word usage flows down hill. Desert, as the ultimate, post cheese course is now rarely used (or served). It got picked up by the lower classes (and Americans) as a hold all for the 3rd sweet course way way back. The sweet, or pre-cheese course is most commonly called the pudding course, though its general posh usage goes a bit back to the Edwardians. BW, please inform your dear MIL that she is quite quite wrong. My oh so posh inlaws would smile and of course copy her use of Desert while she was in the room, then revert to pudding when she left.

    Actually, shall we discuss the weather? I’ve studied very hard to get the right weather words down pat depending on who I talk to!

    Reply
  7. Z

    No chance of you drinking out of the fingerbowl then, Boy?

    Though of course, if I ignorantly did, you would promptly follow suit so as not to make me feel awkward.

    Reply
  8. Anonymous

    Lower classes and Americans? Now really, that was not very nice to put the two types in the same lot was it? Bad Boy—go sit on the naughty stool. Still it made me laugh!

    Reply
  9. The Boy

    I am but an uncooth Canadian. Its elbows on the table and my fork occasionally drifts from the left hand to the right. I do hold my knife the right way though! I suspect it would be you covering my poor table manners Z.

    Reply
  10. Z

    Somehow, I think you would fit in effortlessly, whatever the company. In any case, knowing the ‘rules’ gives you flexibility to ignore them. I eat chips with my fingers. And, having graciously peeled the apple, I then eat the core and peel.

    Reply
  11. luckyzmom

    Wow. All the “good for you stuff” is in the peel.

    At a bus station in England my husband and I were having a popscycle while waiting for a bus. Two lovely ladies struck up a conversation with us when one of them asked if we were enjoying our “lollies”. Though for us “lollies” are hard candy on a stick, we knew what they meant and went on to have the most delightful conversation with the two friends. So I don’t think it matters all that much what you call pudding or dessert or ?

    Reply
  12. Z

    Lucky, I think there’s more scope for confusion in food terms than anywhere else between our countries. As you say, it doesn’t actually matter!

    Reply

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