THACKLEY TRUMPIT JULY 2014 FORMERLY OF THIS PARISH

Formerly of this Parish

John Wood, laments on the good, the bad & the ugly

It’s so sad. The sound of bacon and eggs cooking, the marvellous smell wafting through the kitchen have all been banished for ever in a fight against the dreaded acid stomach. Its been a battle slowly unfurling, from the day they whipped out the faithful gallbladder the system has been groaning under the weight of in-balance. Too much of this too little of that and the mixture fails to rise, in my case, it rises too much. Slowly the type of food that is deemed good diminishes to rabbit food whilst the good old stalwarts like bacon and egg are verboten.
What this does for ones own mental well being need investigation. Is the remedy worth the pain and the emotional mis-location as one pads around the kitchen in search of a healthy breakfast.
The foods one can eat are un-appetising, lacking taste and have no smell. The extravaganza of a fry-up with fried bread is a memory, clouded with the discomfort of dyspepsia, its a no go but the alternatives are so bland as to make one forget to eat !!   

Pennina Dale - Toronto

GODERICH...You remember, don't you?  Of course you do!  Well, I was there again a couple of weeks ago. Just a quick two-day visit. Lovely! especially now summer's here and the residents are now well and truly over the after-effects of the tornado of 2011. New trees in fresh green glory all around the court house again; many old favourite stores reopened and refurbished, and some that didn't make it replaced by new and very welcome   others. I was lucky enough to be on the harbour pier - on a glorious sunny morning - when a massive ocean-going ship from way up in Algoma (Northern Ontario) was coming in to load up with the precious salt which is mined from deep in the harbour waters. This giant was being nudged in by Goderich's three tiny tug-boats, all saying "me too, me too, me too!" They do so put me in mind of little puppy-dogs - never fails!  Another boat in from Hong Kong, too. The one full day I had was spent being driven around (for a change!) to a host of local towns (Southampton was one), and other interesting places. The day was rounded off very nicely (in Kincardine) for a superb fish-and-chips supper, followed by the sun setting over Lake Huron. Next morning a quick trot along the boardwalk, stopping to pick up a few new pebbles and stones to add to my garden collection, a yummy doughnut and coffee from Culbert's Bakery, and then it was (rather reluctantly) back on the trail to Toronto. I'm already eagerly anticipating my next trip to "Ontario's West Coast"!