Bread

 

What a good day.  Much of it has been taken up with stuffing my face with my 'Stonebaked, white, crusty, bloomer' that I was overcharged for at Tesco.  Very nice bread indeed, meaningless name for a loaf made by the thousand and then priced higher than the rest to make it appear special.  However, I enjoyed it, and will enjoy the leftovers tomorrow, before it suddenly dies.

The poor lassie pictured above is creating bread, probably a 'sourdough' bread, apparently first discovered in Egypt.  They say they liked bread there, and by 3000 BC there was plenty of variety of wheats and other crops with which to make it.  I am not sure I would wish to be a woman rolling it back and forward there for much of the day.  She would also have to crush grain before this to create the flour to use also.  The bones of such women show years of hard work.  Of course the men, who died earlier, also show the effect of the hard work they endured, but being men are ignored, they do not sell papers. 

As far as I remember early wheats were not very good, and the bread did not actually make you very healthy.  It took some time before such grains were worth while.  By Jesus time Barley Bread was for the poor, and Wheat Bread was for the rich.  Jesus prayer, 'Give us our daily bread,' meant just that, give us the barley bread that keeps us alive, the very basic of life.  Note he did not mention the better bread.  

I like trying the differing breads on offer, though all here are found in Tesco or Sainsburys and therefore not exactly the best options, but they have to do.  I suspect the health food shop sells their own or 'fancy' bread but the price will be fancy also, they can keep that. 

It used to be small bakers kept Edinburgh going for bread.  Walking home late at night I passed one at Stockbridge, door open because of the heat, and the fabulous aroma of baking bread filling the area around.  On Sunday morning someone was sent down the road to get the 'rolls and papers' so we could eat and work our way through the mass of papers we once bought.  The family on the top floor used to change the papers they bought for the ones we bought so together we got through the whole Sunday output of the press during the day.   

How different now.

The only media then during the 50s and early 60s was the wireless and the papers on a Sunday morning.  And usually full scale papers at that.  Not the tabloid things of later.  Even the 'Scottish Sunday Express' had things worth reading at that time, while today it is a dreadful dying rag.  I understand the journalists that remain are not allowed back into the office, it is cheaper for them to 'work from home' while writing items telling people not to 'work from home.'

At least back then, after lunch eventually arrived, we could sit near the gramaphone and listen to the 'Goons' or 'Hancock' making us laugh.  The 'Goons' offered a strange world of sound that nobody has touched since, or at least, not so successfully.  The 'Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy' the nearest thing on radio I can think of similar in output.

 

After I left Tesco I ventured into the museum as I wanted a couple of postcards.  I have four second class stamps to use up before they are out of date, so I must send something to someone to get the benefit!

Here, I encountered two of my women, women I have not seen since Covid began.  How long ago that appears.  Avoiding buying anything but what I wanted was difficult, I almost bought a book I do not require but still found myself arguing in my mind about buying it.  Anyway I wasted around 30 minutes there, including having a quick look at the latest exhibition, 'Ladybird Books,' before heading home to my bread.  Since then I did nothing.  I filled my face and look forward to the weight increase happily.