Part 1/ Do you ever think out of nowhere about an item of food that you haven't had in ages and feel you've got to have immediately, today, or you'll die? - 'Ooh, I fancy an X! Yes! I really want an X! Where can I get an X?'
Yesterday afternoon I had that feeling about a scone. I could have baked a batch, but as the family have left home and Dave doesn't eat them, it would have been excessive. I only wanted one. So I went and bought one and had it with butter and home made blackcurrant jam and it was just as delicious as I imagined it would be.
Last year, I bought Anita Shreve's book The Stars are Fire and began to read it and thought 'I don't think this if for me' and I put it on the shelf. This week I started reading it again, and I was hooked. This has happened with other books. Sometimes I'm just not in the mood, and later I enjoy them.
This got me wondering about damning reviews people put on Amazon. Some people say they tried twice to read a book and then gave up. And then they say the book is rubbish. Were these people just not in the mood for the book?
Part 2/ Every Wednesday morning, before I wake up, Dave goes to Sainsbury's to snag his weekly supply of family sized yoghurts, along with other varied supplies for saner family members (i.e. me). I always give him my list the night before, but sometimes when I wake up in the early hours for a pee I remember something else and email him...such as last night when I remembered spring onions and sent him an email with just a subject title, in the dark without any specs:
When I woke up I got this reply:
and thought he'd finally lost it.
What? I emailed back.
Wish I could post a comment
ReplyDeleteTechnically speaking that is
Ana
It’s a miracle ! First one to get through in ages
ReplyDeleteYour domestic anecdote is really the goods
Did you get the onions ??
Ana
I am waiting for him to come home with them. But he will. He knows his onions..
ReplyDeleteoh that made laugh out loud!! I certainly get that food lust now and then and the big secret is : don't compromise! Something like it won't do. It has to be the best of what you long for. I do whether you enjoy a book or manage to "get" into it can be so mood dependent but I have recently been doing some re reading of for eg Penelope Lively and was amazed at just how much I now enjoyed them, could not put them down. I read them years ago and can recall thinking that the books were well written, were good but this time round i wanted to wallow in the writing and the stories! I think it is because i am so much older, have experienced so much more ...
ReplyDeleteOh yes, the well-timed scone - never fails to hit the mark - though I can’t remember ever longing for one!
ReplyDeleteBut the exchange with Dave - mind-bendingly priceless!
Thea xx
He's such good value.
ReplyDeleteAs for longing for unlikely items - I've been known to yearn for a pork pie, too.
Ana - I'm glad you manged to get through the invisible barriers that Blogger puts up to be annoying.
ReplyDeleteMarmee - you're right. It has to be THAT item. A compromise won't do.
Love Dave's reply - exactly the sort of response I'd have sent. I never buy scones because nobody can make them as good as my Mum's (secret ingredient: an egg). She's 85 and makes them when she's bored and usually has some in the freezer.
ReplyDeleteThe Amazon reviews which annoy me the most are this sort:
"Bought as a gift, not really my thing. 1 star"
"Looks good but not opened it yet. 5 stars"
And not forgetting those lengthy book reviews which are just a rewrite of the blurb.
They are infuriating reviews!
ReplyDeleteAnd it impacts on ratings and thus sales.
Still laughing at this 12 hours on...
ReplyDeleteHow I love you both xx
After a week of getting next to nothing on my phone , there you are - hurrah. (interweb on welsh coast in a storm) I have been observing myself choose books in charity shops and am none the wiser although I'm on my forth this week such has been the excitement of a week by the sea with a man whose mind is on steam trains....! Your exchange with Dave has made my day.
ReplyDeleteSorry Sue, previous post does not make sense (- promise not to comment from my phone, when tired, in future. Its Jenetta- I did sign my post but it didn't take) What I was trying to say is I don't know why I choose one book over another - sometimes its the cover, sometimes its the author, sometimes its the title, sometimes its the style -ie readable in smaller chunks vs staying up all night to read in one sitting (which is no help for you and behind the times besides but I have been pondering about it ever since you brought the subject up ). I recently read someone describing themselves as a promiscuous reader and I suspect that applies to me. Jenetta
ReplyDeleteHi Jenetta, I realised it was you because of the allusion to a man obsessed by steam trains!
ReplyDeleteAll comments welcome from friendly blog readers, no matter the level of coherence. 😘