Sunday 10 March 2013

Food

...to eat and for thought today.

On March 10th this year two occasions coincide.   First of all it is Mothering Sunday (please don't call it Mother's Day) and also it happens to be my son's birthday.   So last night we went out, the four of us, to celebrate both occasions.

We went to a small Italian Bistro in our local market town.   It is many years since I went in it, but it is a regular haunt of my son and his wife, who are always singing its praises.   And I must say their song is justified - it was lovely.

Lovely ambience, nice and warm, lovely staff and delicious fairly priced food.   Who could wish for anything more?  The farmer and I both had the Chef's Special Tagliatelle with ham, mushrooms, tomatoes and cream, followed by home made bread and butter pudding and custard (a pud I like because it is not too sweet) and we came home happy and replete.   That is the end of our eating out for a while.

Now to something completely different. If, like me, you see footage of all these young people out on the town on a Friday and Saturday night almost legless with too much to drink.   And if you live in a large town you probably are used to seeing drug addicts around - I am sure there are some here but they are largely hidden.  But I think you will agree that alcohol and drug addiction are the real problems with young folk today. If this is the case then I urge you to read an article in Saturday's Guardian newspaper If you can't get hold of one then I am sure you can read it on line.

The said article is called "One Day at a Time" - and is written by somebody we all know for one reason or another (more infamous than famous) Russell Brand.  But the article comes straight from the horse's mouth so to speak, as Brand was himself addicted to both heroin and alcohol until ten years ago. It is the most readable and the most informative article I have read on the subject and really makes me much more sympathetic towards Brand than I ever felt before.

The snow has largely died out now apart from flurries now and again, but there is a North East wind blowing and it is still bitterly cold.  It does makes you feel that Spring has gone underground once more.   But I came across this quotation from Horace earlier today - and it does make you realise that the transition from one season to the next was ever thus:

...In Spring the swelling earth aches for the seeds of new life.
Lovely the earth in labour, under a nervous west wind.
The fields loosen,a mild wetness lies everywhere.
Confident grows the grass, for the young sun will do no harm.
The shoots of the vine do not fear a southerly storm arising
Or icy rain slanting from heaven under a north wind...
No, bravely they bud now and reveal their leaves.
So it was since the beginning of the world,
Here is the brilliant dawning and pitch of these days.

So the snow will go and the sun will increase in warmth and Spring will arrive at its own pace eh?     

8 comments:

Gerry Snape said...

Pat...I love the Horace....little changes I think!...you are right about mothering sunday..I feel for those never mothers, no longer mothers etc. with this American version of a mother church celebration of community.

Rachel Phillips said...

Yes, Russell Brand was very good. An enlightenment of what it is to be an addict. It gripped me to the end.

Heather said...

Drug and alcohol addiction must be so hard to beat but the thing which puzzles me most is, how young people can afford to become addicted to either?
Your celebratory dinner sounds delicious - Happy Birthday Dominic.
It is bitterly cold down here too and we must be patient a little longer. Not too much longer I hope!

the veg artist said...

His BBCthree programme is still on BBC iPlayer for those who didn't see it. Again, excellent.

angryparsnip said...

What a lovely evening out and a very Happy Birthday to your son.
I would say let there be cake but you already had the custard !

cheers, parsnip

JoAnn ( Scene Through My Eyes) said...

How nice to have such a celebration of Mothering Day and a birthday. Over here we do call it Mother's Day, and this is the first I've ever heard of Mothering Day - but is sounds a lot like our celebration in June.

I hope your springs comes soon - ours too is slow - no snow -but plenty of clouds and rain, but buds are beginning to show now. Spring is coming.

Cloudia said...

Another lovely essay.


ALOHA from Honolulu
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The Weaver of Grass said...

Thanks for dropping by.