Vagueness and the Aftermath - A sporadic diary

[RED-DOG]

Well done Joby, what a fantastic achievement.

Looking forward to following your trip reports and Pics Tom, have the best fun ever.

Cheers Kev. The trip will be pretty mundane by most people's standards, but I'm excited to bits.

[booder]

Well done Joby, what a fantastic achievement.

Looking forward to following your trip reports and Pics Tom, have the best fun ever.

[Karabiner]

Well done Joby, what a fantastic achievement.

Looking forward to following your trip reports and Pics Tom, have the best fun ever.

Cheers Kev. The trip will be pretty mundane by most people's standards, but I'm excited to bits.

Mundane. Not for me, I crap myself anytime I'm on a bike and so would you if I was driving.

Have fun.

[Doobs]

I'm not familiar with the site in the first link but I do know most of the people.

You're right, there are some great stories. I like Huighe's hedgehog one in particular.

Crikey, that one is an eye-opener. I now know what "paunches" are, all about trout tickling, & Oxo cubes.

Love that story too. 

Found out something new too.  I roughly knew what trout tickling was, but wouldn't have known how to go about it.

I can confirm I have eaten tripe and oxtail, but never hedgehog.  I went to a muslim wedding where they sacrificed a goat.  Pretty much everything went in the pan.  We really are quite wasteful in the West.  It is only fairly recently that people have started eating belly pork, oxtail etc again.  They used to be really cheap.   

Having read this, I was talking to my daughter last night about eating rabbit and pigeon (she never has), and she goes "yuck, you can't eat pigeon".  So I said, it is just like chicken, it is just another bird.  And she goes "they are different, CHICKENS LAY EGGS".

Did you ever eat pig's trotters and chicken feet?  They are really big in china/hong kong.  Not even sure you could buy them here, outside of chinatowns.  I wouldn't rush to try them, they are as bad as they sound!

[RED-DOG]

I'm not familiar with the site in the first link but I do know most of the people.

You're right, there are some great stories. I like Huighe's hedgehog one in particular.

Crikey, that one is an eye-opener. I now know what "paunches" are, all about trout tickling, & Oxo cubes.

Love that story too. 

Found out something new too.  I roughly knew what trout tickling was, but wouldn't have known how to go about it.

I can confirm I have eaten tripe and oxtail, but never hedgehog.  I went to a muslim wedding where they sacrificed a goat.  Pretty much everything went in the pan.  We really are quite wasteful in the West.  It is only fairly recently that people have started eating belly pork, oxtail etc again.  They used to be really cheap.   

Having read this, I was talking to my daughter last night about eating rabbit and pigeon (she never has), and she goes "yuck, you can't eat pigeon".  So I said, it is just like chicken, it is just another bird.  And she goes "they are different, CHICKENS LAY EGGS".

Did you ever eat pig's trotters and chicken feet?  They are really big in china/hong kong.  Not even sure you could buy them here, outside of chinatowns.  I wouldn't rush to try them, they are as bad as they sound!

I always laugh when I see the fancy prices they charge nowadays for what used to be the cheaper cuts and offal.

When I was a little boy I used to work with my mam, well when I say work, she did all the work. She used to go door to door telling fortunes and selling pegs, lace and lucky charms from a basket and it was my job to be quiet and try to look undernourished. (Not difficult for me, there was more fat on a goldfinch)

Anyway, when we had finished work she used to call into the butchers on the way home and ask for a two bob fry up. Now back then, butchers used to do all their own slaughtering so the entire carcase was available, things like belly pork, ox tail, bacon ribs, pigs cheek & feet, sheep's paunches and even lamb chops were all available for a few pennies. A couple of bob would buy you about 5lb of fresh meat, and if the butcher liked you, he would throw in the odd squashed sausage or a bit of fatty steak that he had trimmed from the lean.

Back on the camp an hour or so later, we children were drawn from our games by the tantalising aroma of frying and we would run home to stand by the fire with a doorstep of bread clutched in our grubby hands. Jostling for position, we waited for our lucky dip portion of the meat that spit and sizzled as it slowly turned crisp and brown in the big black frying pan.

It was anticipation bordering on torture.   

[atdc21]

Tom, I became a little fixated by the Steele family & your wonderful pen picture of them in reply to Matt Russell, so I went a-googling.

Probably no connection at all, but I stumbled upon this stunning site. I assume you are familiar with it. If not, you'll be reading it for the next 2 hours.......


http://www.lincolnshiretravellerinitiative.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/OBRGL_Book_A4_FINAL_web.pdf


Some cracking stories & photographs in there. Do you know any of the people?

Some cracking characters there Tikay, bet that Gordon Boswell could tell a few stories 

[typhoon13]

I'm not familiar with the site in the first link but I do know most of the people.

You're right, there are some great stories. I like Huighe's hedgehog one in particular.

Crikey, that one is an eye-opener. I now know what "paunches" are, all about trout tickling, & Oxo cubes.

Love that story too. 

Found out something new too.  I roughly knew what trout tickling was, but wouldn't have known how to go about it.

I can confirm I have eaten tripe and oxtail, but never hedgehog.  I went to a muslim wedding where they sacrificed a goat.  Pretty much everything went in the pan.  We really are quite wasteful in the West.  It is only fairly recently that people have started eating belly pork, oxtail etc again.  They used to be really cheap.   

Having read this, I was talking to my daughter last night about eating rabbit and pigeon (she never has), and she goes "yuck, you can't eat pigeon".  So I said, it is just like chicken, it is just another bird.  And she goes "they are different, CHICKENS LAY EGGS".

Did you ever eat pig's trotters and chicken feet?  They are really big in china/hong kong.  Not even sure you could buy them here, outside of chinatowns.  I wouldn't rush to try them, they are as bad as they sound!

I always laugh when I see the fancy prices they charge nowadays for what used to be the cheaper cuts and offal.

When I was a little boy I used to work with my mam, well when I say work, she did all the work. She used to go door to door telling fortunes and selling pegs, lace and lucky charms from a basket and it was my job to be quiet and try to look undernourished. (Not difficult for me, there was more fat on a goldfinch)

Anyway, when we had finished work she used to call into the butchers on the way home and ask for a two bob fry up. Now back then, butchers used to do all their own slaughtering so the entire carcase was available, things like belly pork, ox tail, bacon ribs, pigs cheek & feet, sheep's paunches and even lamb chops were all available for a few pennies. A couple of bob would buy you about 5lb of fresh meat, and if the butcher liked you, he would throw in the odd squashed sausage or a bit of fatty steak that he had trimmed from the lean.

Back on the camp an hour or so later, we children were drawn from our games by the tantalising aroma of frying and we would run home to stand by the fire with a doorstep of bread clutched in our grubby hands. Jostling for position, we waited for our lucky dip portion of the meat that spit and sizzled as it slowly turned crisp and brown in the big black frying pan.

It was anticipation bordering on torture.   

I still eat pigs fry now

Liver bacon kidney belly pork

Mix together put in oven for an hour...makes a good thick gravy

[typhoon13]

Ever eaten stuffed chine Tom

We eat stuffed chine at least once a week, goes well with fried tates and vinegar

Neck of pork stuffed with parsley

[tikay]

I'm not familiar with the site in the first link but I do know most of the people.

You're right, there are some great stories. I like Huighe's hedgehog one in particular.

Crikey, that one is an eye-opener. I now know what "paunches" are, all about trout tickling, & Oxo cubes.

Love that story too. 

Found out something new too.  I roughly knew what trout tickling was, but wouldn't have known how to go about it.

I can confirm I have eaten tripe and oxtail, but never hedgehog.  I went to a muslim wedding where they sacrificed a goat.  Pretty much everything went in the pan.  We really are quite wasteful in the West.  It is only fairly recently that people have started eating belly pork, oxtail etc again.  They used to be really cheap.   

Having read this, I was talking to my daughter last night about eating rabbit and pigeon (she never has), and she goes "yuck, you can't eat pigeon".  So I said, it is just like chicken, it is just another bird.  And she goes "they are different, CHICKENS LAY EGGS".

Did you ever eat pig's trotters and chicken feet?  They are really big in china/hong kong.  Not even sure you could buy them here, outside of chinatowns.  I wouldn't rush to try them, they are as bad as they sound!

Pigs trotters, yes, chicken feet, not that I am aware.

Grandma Angell used to make all sorts of stews, & it often included pigs trotters. (Why can't we call them pig's feet, I wonder?)

Rabbit stew was another regular dish. Little bones & not much meat, but distinctive flavour.

Sheep's heart was another "delicacy" if that is the word. Ox Tongue, too, in fact I used to get sliced ox tongue for sandwiches.

Oxtail soup is my fave soup, though whether it actually contains the tail of an Ox I'm unsure.

Almost any meat is edible as far as I am concerned, & almost no veg, obv.

[tikay]

Is it Thursday when you head off on your two-wheeled adventure, Tom?

Good luck, enjoy, & be careful.

[Mohican]

Is it Thursday when you head off on your two-wheeled adventure, Tom?

Good luck, enjoy, & be careful.

Good luck with your ride. As always, pictures and a witty verbal report will be required. Ride safe.

[tikay]

Is it Thursday when you head off on your two-wheeled adventure, Tom?

Good luck, enjoy, & be careful.

Good luck with your ride. As always, pictures and a witty verbal report will be required. Ride safe.

This. I do worry about people of Tom's age who still hold a driving licence. The faculties dim, you know.

[Karabiner]

Chicken's feet are delicious but need to have the tough outer skin scraped off before being cooked for a tad under a couple of hours in the chicken soup along with the rest of the chicken(quartered), onions, celery, carrot and some stock+seasoning.

Unfortunately I don't think you can't get them here as they are all shipped off to the far East from the slaughter-houses otherwise I would always include a couple whenever I make a cauldron of Jewish Penicillin. Not had chicken's feet for years although I did eat duck's webs and abalone a few times with Chinese friends in Toronto.

[RED-DOG]

Is it Thursday when you head off on your two-wheeled adventure, Tom?

Good luck, enjoy, & be careful.

Said our goodbye's and set off in the teeming rain. Headed for Dover via the A5 and the A12 (I think) went through the Dartford tunnel.

It was an exciting ride in all the rain and the spray. We were in our waterproof gear and stayed bone dry.

After 100 miles or do I wasn't hungry but John made me stop and eat some chips.

Click to see full-size image.

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[RED-DOG]

Got to our Airbnb at about 4:30.

This is it looking out.

Click to see full-size image.

And this is looking in.

Click to see full-size image.

Click to see full-size image.

Bloody Hell! I look like an old fart.

Ferry tomorrow. Soo excited....