Car Booting. A Very British Institution. As is Doctor Who

I'm not sure if the phenomenon of a "car boot" occurs elsewhere in my loyal readership's domains, so I shall explain.

A Car Boot Sale
    Firstly, a car boot is the back end of a car, where you find the spare tyre, a smelly old plaid blanket and an ancient packet of chewing gum.
     A car boot sale is a level area covered with cars, their boots open and all sorts of wares previously carried in that boot now ordered on a paste table*.
     Being English, we don't really barter for goods on sale in conventional market venues, but this reserve breaks down at a car boot.  "How much is it?  Fifty pence?  I've got thirty.  Forty pence?  Hang on I found another five pence.  Done!" in a million different variations.  I only intend to buy books at car boots - anyone familiar with earlier posts will know that book-buying is my very special sin - and have always been pleasantly surprised at getting bargains.  Today it was "Great Military Battles", edited by Cyril Falls**, which cost £1.  No idea what the price would be on e-bay or Amazon or in a shop, but I'm betting £20 upwards.  I can size up each stall on approach; most of the books going are what I scornfully and snobbishly dismiss as Airport Potboilers - read once whilst waiting for a flight and discarded like used tissues immediately afterwards.  There were an awful lot of "Fifty Shades of Grey" going, and also large numbers of Peter Kay's autobiographies.

Unsurprisingly, I recognised most of the authors who wrote the articles.  This is actually awesomely cool and not nerdy in any way whatsoever.



 

So!  Peter Capaldi, eh?

     One reason for posting this blog so late when I had all day to post is because of a very well-managed BBC event about who was going to be the next Doctor Who.

     I'm rather pleased they went with the older actor this time, given the previous trend we might have seen a Doctor wearing shorts and not yet able to shave.

     Anyway, since they have chosen a Scottish actor, could they please have him speak with his native accent!

     Thank you.

 

Cuisine Matters

     Does it ever!  The Pistachio and Pecan ice cream made last night is, without boasting, verrrry nice indeed.  I find the Papaya ice-cream has an unpleasant aftertaste, won't be making that one again, unless I can find an antidote.

     Also made a Sausage and Bean casserole to use up some aging sausages.  Other family members eat at their own peril!  The sausages were going cheap on Friday as being past their sell-by-date***, so consume with caution.

     I have also made Cornbread, an American foodstuff I've not come across before.  A kind of unleavened sponge with it's own taste, excellent for mopping-up whilst eating anything with gravy or sauce or a casserole.

Actually pretty damn close to my own creation.  Which is downstairs under a tea-towel and thus not easily photographed.

 

*A paste-table is a flimsy horizontal contrivance used to paste wallpaper, or to allow war-games to be played across it's surface - I have four of them

** Professor Cyril Falls, who had been at the sharp end in World War One as a junior officer and who knew what the real thing is like

*** Sell-by-date I see as a challenge, not a warning.  Yesterday I had a whole pack of bacon three weeks past it's sell-by-date.  Result?  Absolutely nothing!