Be careful what you wish for

I would have loved to go to Whitby or Filey or anywhere along that stretch of coastline over the last few days as the weather I hear from my friend who lives there has been glorious. Far too many people about and really I never go to the seaside on Bank Holidays as I think it is the very worst time to go . The world and his wife seem to descend on the shore and most leave their brains at home. And especially this year when we are in /out /nearly in/nearly out of lockdown there was no way I was sitting in a traffic jam for hours to risk getting Covid.

So we have spent sunny days and balmy evenings in the garden.

In the post yesterday arrived my Simple Things magazine which is the first of three I have bought on subscription I have been deliberating whether I should bother and finally after 2 +years I decided to bite the bullet and order it .
So there I was laid in bed last night reading or rather flicking through the pages as I was too tired to set on to read much and they was a recipe for ... and crab... Ah crab, I thought, oh I wish I could get hold of a couple of crabs.

When I was a child I was allergic to them and got an itchy rash if I ever ate them and had to be taken to the doctors, who duly gave me a course of turquoise  tablets and I had a few days off school . So even though I got this very unpleasant rash I took any opportunity to eat crabs, so I could have time off school . Now you realise how much I hated school .If anyone who didn't know I wasn't supposed to eat crabs and I was offered them in a sandwich I munched them down quite happily knowing I would have a few days off school .

I grow out of my allergy as well as growing out of school. Both Jack and myself love a good crab sandwich. I mix the cooked meat with a blob of mustard which seems to enhance the flavour. My Dad is partial to crabmeat too, so there is one for him .

People talk about their prayers been answered ,well today my thoughts had been answered and Mark's friend who used to be a trawlerman off Whitby  arrived with a  bag and handed it to me at arms length .
They had arrived as fresh as anything trying to crawl out of the bag at 5pm this evening and now they are cooked and in the fridge ready for our crab sandwiches tomorrow.

When Jack was a bit younger he was determined to tempt fate and eat the dead men . He survived and I really not sure if they would do you much harm but I am not going to try them as even the feel of them put me off .But boys will be boys however old they are.

Oh to be beside the sea.

Oh to be beside the sea

At times like this we all day dream of being in different places. I love the sea. These photo remind me of the last time I was there with my friend Susan .She lives on the coast so she likes to come in land . To be truthful I think we should all be grateful we are just well and ok and about to be at home.

I know a lot of my guests at the bed and breakfast like to come to stay with us . They like  the countryside views rather than looking out to sea , the wild birds singing rather than seagulls squawking. We dont have fog horns and sea frets. We have beautiful sunrising and sunsets.  We have wonderful restaurants and eating places even places thats serve up amazing fish and chips and sea food dishes...

 but I will continue to dream about going to the seaside ...to Whitby ...to the Magpie ... and eating fish that tastes as if it has just jumped out of the sea.  My last supper at the seaside when I chatting with Ian Robson and we put the world to rights.  I do hope we will meet up again before too long maybe Ian will venture over here into our territory and we will eat simple country food.
To eat with friends is the best thing in the world and what I miss the most. I eat with my best friend ever day but we both look forward to sharing our table with friends.