In the face of the coming rise in the cost of living, the Aga was shut down, although it will be used in the winter in this cold house. In its place we have, all electric, a combination oven, a hob, electric kettle and toaster, which results in a different way of cooking. My daughter isn't buying herself out of the circumstance just changing the way we do things, the Aga is a great guzzler of gas.
Doesn't the future look doom-laden? who is to blame I wonder, or is it just a series of events happening together. War in Ukraine, Putin, the withholding of energy and grain, a government (that is so ridiculous I can't even talk about it!) arguing over its own selfish future and not giving a s**t about this country. Well I will say one thing, Brexit was an absolute mistake!! It could not have come at a worse time.
But to return to home and the hearth, I can't suss the combination oven.... Lillie is away on scout's holiday and my daughter with her dearly beloved down in Devon on holiday. I have begun making 'drop scones' instead of the ones you pop into the oven. The Queen when she was a child cooked drop scones, so I am in good company. A new frying pan, mostly there is only the heavy based Creuset pans to cook with, all garnered secondhand from charity shops, are useless on the hob.
I have to keep telling myself as I confront the combi oven that it is just like a computer, already programmed, all I have to do is type in a set of instructions and it will work but the rather thick booklet looks complicated....
But just to cheer the page up, this morning I came across a poem, heard and perhaps learnt as a child, The Listeners - by Walter de la Mere a poem you can almost lose yourself in....
"Knocking on the Moonlit Door" -love it. My Aga at the farm was oil fired. I miss it daily - the whole house - old and cold as farmhouses usually are- was always warm day and night. Dread to think what it would cost to run now.
ReplyDeleteThough Agas are very comforting Pat, they are also white elephants as well I think and of course very weighty.
DeleteI always liked that poem, even as a kid. I have friends with an Aga that they cannot turn off, and no alternative stove for cooking. It is absolute murder in the Summer, when they have to live with every door and window open in their kitchen/living room. Luckily they are wealthy - maybe not for long...
ReplyDeleteIt has made an impression on others I see Tom, the weekly learning of numbers, words and poetry from our old fashioned schools left us with a rich legacy.
DeleteI read "The Listeners" once again as directed - probably sixty years after I first read it. It is indeed a haunting poem. Brexit, Johnson and The War in Ukraine - what a terrible chemical formula! Johnson leaves with his "head held high" and "Mission (almost) accomplished" with thousands upon thousands fearing what the autumn will bring or visiting food banks. You could not make this stuff up as two spiteful sixth formers vye for the keys to Number 10.
ReplyDeleteThe Listeners tells a story with direct simplicity Y/P. I can hardly utter the names of the protagonists in this pointless political fight for dominance. I hope the country vote them all out eventually. There is enough unrest in the country at the moment to tip the balance.
Delete'The Listeners' was a favorite, first encountered in the English literature book from my mother's high school days. Another of De la Mare's is 'Silver': 'Slowly, silently, now the moon, Walks the night in her silver shoon.' I was always frustrated when we were assigned a poem to analyze--in spite of English lit and comp being my stellar class. I don't need to know what the poet 'meant'--if the imagery and cadence intrigues me, creates pictures in my mind, that is enough. That being said, I've known several people who consider themselves 'poets'--who write tortured rhymes of sentimental hogwash that make me cringe!
ReplyDeleteTypically, I went to your link to read 'The Listeners' then read the critical essay and clicked to read a number of the poems not familiar to me. [4th year English Literature books do have their limitations.]
I don't tinker with the supernatural--too scary--but there is something about old houses or even sites where a homestead has been, that takes the imagination. How not to wonder about the lives passed there, the whole line of daily/yearly joys and sorrows, the mundane tasks, the moments of anticipation and celebration. Perhaps I like best a simple form of poetry--if there is such a thing--a ballad, a story.
I am glad you enjoyed the poem Sharon and it brought back memories. English literature was such an important part of education. Being made to explore deeply language, and the use of, framed our minds I suppose.
DeleteI love the cadences of Masefield and de la Mare. I remember this one from school. We never know who (or what!) gets left behind in old houses. I was talking to a gentleman in the churchyard earlier this week (digging a hole for a casket . . .) and he pointed to the lovely old house he used to live in. They lived round the corner now, in a newer - I suspect MUCH newer - house, as they had ghostly problems in the old one. First a balloon left by a young visitor, which he had brought downstairs from his bedroom, was seen to travel along a corridor and then, in the manner of someone climbing the stairs holding it, ascend the staircase and get left back in his bedroom again . . . They could cope with such things, but when his wife was on her hands and knees reaching for something at the back of an (old) cupboard, a weight on her back pinned her down and she couldn't move. They had the house exorcised after that but he said it didn't really work so they moved . . .
ReplyDeleteThat sounds so exciting Jennie, I love ghost stories. Probably why I read Ellie Griffith's books. I do think you should write a book on your experiences especially at Ynyswen. All I have is very rare moments of precognition, which doesn't always bring good news.
DeleteI agree with you on the precognition Thelma, especially when it doesn't bring good news.
DeleteP.S. Like you Sharon, I don't set out to tinker with the supernatural but have been subject to it making itself known to me on many occasions, especially back at Ynyswen. Then there are other unspooky but VERY strange happenings - connections, shall we say - which I have experienced and cannot explain.
ReplyDeleteI saw in the Guardian today about the new Climate Party. No mention of it on the BBC website. Arilx
ReplyDeleteYes Aril, I caught this news on my tablet. He is a centre right conservative setting up the party, a counciller at the moment. I am hopeful that climate change will begin to not only make its presence known but that we all respond to it. They were talking on the radio this morning how in Germany they are restricting use of energy in the public sector. And of course cheaper fares on the trains are part of the European movement to restrict car movement.
DeleteThank you; good to read 'The Listeners' again. It is music.
ReplyDeleteGlad you enjoyed it Joanne.
ReplyDeleteRecipe please. My scones are always so dry. Now to read the poem.
ReplyDeleteMary Berry's recipe Tabor..... https://thehappyfoodie.co.uk/recipes/drop-scones/
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