There were two things I didn’t like about the butcher in Farnham. His insistence on using plastic for wrapping everything was one of them. Plastic bags and plastic tape to seal them. Always too much and a bit of a deterrent. In Waitrose, I’d take my own packaging for the meat and fish which helped. But the butcher loved his plastic.
Which was odd because, the other thing I disliked about him was the fact that he voted for Brexit. He wanted Britain to return to how it was before joining the Great European Project. I say it was odd because surely he should have returned to using butcher’s paper.
Which is why I’ve mentioned this.
At the butcher on Monday, all my meat was wrapped in butcher’s paper. Then, on Wednesday, when I bought a piece of skrei, the lovely deli assistant wrapped it in butcher’s paper then (almost) gift wrapped it in brown paper.
I’d never heard of skrei before and the lovely deli assistant very helpfully explained that it is a type of cod which has spawned near Norway, moved to the Barents Sea then, eventually, returned to Norway to be caught. She said the word ‘skrei’ sort of translates to ‘the wanderer’. It is only available at certain times of the year and is much sought after. Best of all, it is delicious.
We had it tonight in Brazilian Fish. I think I’ll get some more next week.
Actually, I had an unscheduled trip to Tyresö Centrum today. Rather than buying fish, I had to get a new pair of jeans. My old, very comfortable, very familiar pair had developed two rather obvious holes in the butt. You know when it’s time to buy new jeans when you can feel metal seats on your bum.
There’s not a jeans shop at Tyresö Centrum. What there is, is a branch of Dressman. And Dressman sells jeans. Among other things.
Another very helpful shop assistant (there seems to be a lot in Sweden) found me a couple of pairs to try on. There’s always the optimistic pair followed by the actual waist size. It was the latter that fit. Best of all, apart from the pleasure of a covered bum, was the fact that there was a special on and they were half price.
I ducked into a handy toilet and changed, feeling almost instantly warmer around the lower regions. I celebrated with a coffee at Espresso House before getting the bus back home.
It was on the way back up the hill to the house that I saw the fairy sparkles that Sara had told us about. The air was full of them, glinting in various colours as the very light breeze moved them along.
They are tiny ice crystals glinting in the sun as they drift about. They look very magical.
Oh, and Christopher Plummer died today. He was 91. He didn’t like The Sound of Music calling it, among other things The Sound of Mucus. He sounded like a very funny and extremely lovely man. He died peacefully following a fall.
