Be the difference you can be

A question I’m often asked is why I wear odd socks. My standard reply is that they’re not odd they are just different colours. My question in return is why people think socks need to be identical when worn at the same time.

Or shoes, gloves, even trouser legs.

Years ago I directed a production of The Follies of Calandro and I decided that one of the characters would wear tights with different coloured legs. At the time this was pretty hard to find so it was a case of buying two different pairs and cutting a leg off each.

The woman wearing them didn’t understand but given she had great difficulty remembering her lines, her costume wasn’t uppermost in her mind. Besides, her character was a bit of a put upon, downbeat, negative maid and her leg colour was probably not noticed.

Which brings me, quite naturally, to the colour of my beard versus the colour of my hair.

I have been dying my hair for the last 40 years so my beard is far more natural than my head could ever hope to be. And I have to wonder how odd it looks. But then, I think, why should it be odd that the colour of my beard is different to the colour of my hair?

And what’s wrong with looking odd anyway? Fighting pointless societal norms should be my mission! I think we should live our lives in as surprising a way as possible.

As opposed to Storm Dennis who was more a damp squib than a surprise. Unlike Ciara who blasted Surrey relentlessly, Dennis was just windy and wet as Yoda would attest to.

And so, the morning was mostly spent inside, watching the trees bend and the water splashing off the terrace. There were a few moments of calm but it was mostly continuously unpleasant.

Given I did the shopping yesterday, I managed to remain dry. I spent the morning cooking walnut bread, filling the extension with delicious smells.

According to Mirinda, Sophie has become bored with her lo-carb life. Here at Chez Gaz, we try and create a variable menu in order to stave off the boredom. For instance, I could easily make walnut bread every week but then we’d never have paleo bread. I could make the same salad every day but then even I would get bored.

And so, this afternoon, I pulled out all the stops and made the time consuming but incredibly rewarding, Luxury Shepherd’s Pie. It’s one of Tom Kerridge’s amazing lo-carb recipes which brings Michelin standard food to our humble dining table.

It’s hard to believe that the top is cauliflower rather than potato.

By dinner time, Dennis had gone. In fact he left mid afternoon, allowing Mirinda to take the dogs for a damp walk to Frensham. Emma was well pleased.