Revisiting the past

I DO us a tasty stew thing as my experimental cook this week – a mix of chicken thighs, sweet corn and broad beans, all slow-cooked together in a tomato sauce.

And it’s such a relief to be back in good appetite again, for both My Good Lady and myself… our stomach complaints have finally abated.

Meanwhile MGL and I have been making little trips out in the car to see how well I can cope with the driving.

Since my stroke last year, it’s been something of a chore for me to go any distance – some of the deadness in my leg returns.

Anyhow, today we do the weekly shop and then, since it’s such a bright afternoon, we go off into the countryside around us, and pay a visit to the village of Silverdale, a place we know very well indeed; the hotel, there, was at one time one of our favourite dining spots.

Oh, it’s all changed of course – under new management, revamped and, to me, running to seed a bit, but still pleasantly familiar nonetheless: plus ça change and all that.

It’s a far cry from its glory days, though, when the hotel’s telephone number was “Silverdale 3” and when excursion steamers used to moor there for afternoon tea.

Back in those days the grounds extended down to Morecambe Bay, with fine, manicured lawns, beautifully laid-out gardens, and where guests could avail themselves of the tennis courts and the bowling greens.

Then the deep-water channel of the River Kent shifted and the hotel – indeed the whole village – was left high and dry, marooned as it were on an expanse of sand.

Most of the land was sold off for redevelopment and the village now has the sleepy air of a dormer backwater.

It’s still got a certain charm though and I can well remember our first excitement, when, as newlyweds, we lived in a damp, draughty cottage at nearby Crag Foot, and we used to explore this Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

Happy memories!

The longest week of the year

IT HAS struck me before now of course – this interregnal period between Christmas and the New Year, and just how long it often seems.

But this time it’s been, I think, the longest few days of the year.

Partly, of course, it’s due to the fact that the holidays have fallen on the weekend, extending the brokenness of the period by an extra four days.

Mainly, though, it’s because My Good Lady and I have been suffering from severe digestive problems caused by – I’m not quite sure what.

Food poisoning is my first thought, but I’m told that there’s some sort of virus floating around.

Oh, Christmas lunch with our friends goes off well enough, but we come home already feeling suspiciously tired; I certainly need an hour’s nap, and MGL is away to her bed by about 8 o’clock.

The next day the problems start with us. Neither of us feels much up to either cooking or eating, so we heat up one of the ready meals we keep in the freezer for emergencies.

The next day I am in really serious discomfort, with my stomach aching, a general feverishness wracking my whole body, and my appetite completely deserting me, as has my sense of taste: MGL has gone to the trouble of cooking up a Moroccan lamb tagine thing and I can barely manage a mouthful of it.

I eat practically nothing for the next couple of days – a bowl of soup, a small, plain omelette and that’s about all.

By this time MGL is also showing similar symptoms to mine – truly we’re a sad pair indeed.

So passes the week until Friday, when, for the first time we feel well enough to join some of our friends at the Pub for an hour or so.

By Saturday, though, New Year’s Eve, MGL is in frightful state again; she spends most of the day curled up in her armchair, a blanket pulled up to her ears, clasping her griping stomach and refusing almost all food and drink.

I’m doing a little better, though; I persuade her to try a bowl of cream of chicken soup, and later in the evening, I microwave a rather bland fish pie for her.

She does rally a bit later, we even manage a bottle of wine, and in this way we see in 2012.

But I have to say this has been one of the longest – and worst – weeks of the whole year!

You can bet that I’m praying for a happy New Year for us all!