Stories – The Peripatetic Chef

Geriatric and the Pacemakers

*Plating up desserts for our Turkish evening at the Supper club. Not carrot, but candied orange on our semolina cake.*

Veg Man Ray pokes his head round the kitchen door and gives us a toothy grin and a “Hello”.… Read the rest

The Village Hall Committee – Prologue / Act I

*Turkish pide, boat-shaped “pizzas”, made for a recent supper club*

Having lived in the village for a couple of years, and established our supper clubs in Collington Village Hall just around the corner, I was asked to join the village hall committee.… Read the rest

The Village Hall Committee – Act II

My favourite Collington tree – I photograph it every year

Act 2

Scene: The Village Hall, January

Another committee meeting, this time in the committee room, where having now got up to speed with the set of The Vicar of Dibley, The Inner Circle sit on one side of the table, and The Riff Raff sit on a semi-circle of chairs gazing in supposed adoration.… Read the rest

My Piano and Other Instruments – Part 1

The piano has been in the family for generations. Broadwood, piano makers to the Queen, built it in 1888.… Read the rest

My Piano and other Instruments – Part 2

By the time it reached our house in Collington my old piano was in a sorry state: well over a hundred years old; multiple house moves; a hit and miss cleaning and tuning regime; and most recently the indignity of being hauled up in the air by an industrial crane, and spending 2 days at the back of a bundle of goods heading for the environs of Peterborough.… Read the rest

My Piano and Other Instruments – Part 3

Once the piano had settled into its new environment it needed one more tune. I’m not talking about All The Way From Memphis or even Mouldy Old Dough, but rather a professional tuner giving it a once over.… Read the rest

The Grantchester Guinea

A typical backdrop to the vicar’s ambulations

Grantchester is a small village near Cambridge which I have been aware of since my teens through listening to Roger Waters’ beautifully simple song Grantchester Meadows from the early Pink Floyd album Ummagumma.… Read the rest

The Ale House Philosophers

Moving to a new area is very testing. Moving away from familiar people, places, situations, work and landscape is tough, especially when ptsd is telling you that what you need is certainty, familiarity and comfort, reassurance and safety.… Read the rest

Aurucaria

A particularly tricky puzzle, aka a cobweb on the cast iron bench in our garden

The beautician is round at the house.… Read the rest

Moving South

I grew up in the Lake District, in Northern England, and have gradually been migrating south ever since, but the jump from the hilly surroundings of Derbyshire to the fens has been the biggest change I’ve made in one leap.… Read the rest