Povey Prattle

Off to North Carolina for a few days, visiting friends in  Hendersonville. Penne will be at her "holiday camp" with Ron and Charlotte down in the Gulf Gate area of SRQ. Penne loves being there. Ron and Char "adore" her. Neighbour Kathy will be taking care of my home and my cats. See you next week.

As I grew up in the U.K.  (between 1944 and 1964) the "norm" was to have meat as part of the daily main meal (evenings Monday - Friday); (noontime Saturday and Sunday). Meat on the plate was the sign that we were doing well. It was considered to be essential. Vegetarians were thought to be slightly odd. Mum did her best to put meat on the table - but as funds were limited we often ate the cheapest cuts. There was liver, which none of us "adored" (though in these days I like liver and onions). Mum once fed us tripe. 'Twas hard to swallow on account of its texture so we disliked it immensely.  ( I made "tripe and onions" a few years ago and enjoyed it). We had a cheaper form of ham - known as "fore spur" - it had more fat than regular ham . I discovered that the word fore-spur is from an older Somersetshire local dialect viz   Fore-spur , or  Vore-spur   s.   the fore-leg of pork Mum made steak (stewing beef!) and kidney pudding  ...

Good Lord, the price of meat has skyrocketed. Who can afford beef these days? Bacon prices seem to have gone up by about 49% overnight. Humble Chicken thighs used to be sold at about 99c per pound.  Not any more - I paid $2.49 per pound for them yesterday. Lamb has always been expensive in these United States: it is now all but unaffordable. Even "the other white meat" - pork - has gone up in price -  I find myself looking for those "two for one specials" of the cheaper cuts. If the sale of "Smithfield"  (one of America's largest pork/ham/bacon outfits) goes through, and it is sold to a Chinese company we'll soon being seeing pork as a luxury meat ( the growing and more prosperous  Chinese population has an insatiable appetite for pork). Some of the more extreme price increases may be localised. That could be true in this part of Florida where one Supermarket chain holds a huge share of the market -  getting near to monopoly status. ...

Many of you know that I am one of ten children. We are (in birth order): Maureen  1937 Jean  1939 Sylvia (died in infancy) (1941/42?) John Michael (me) 1944 Elizabeth Anne (my twin) 1944 Andrew 1950 David  1951 Stephen 1952 Martyn 1954 Ruth 1956 Today, August 18th, was brother Steve's 61st birthday.  We had a lovely 'phone chat. I am grateful for Steve, for his wife Angela, and for their children Lee and Nicola.