Heading Home

Although I haven’t lived there since 1980 – and from 1977 to 1980 was much of the year at university in Cardiff – I still refer to Yorkshire as home. This does tend to confuse some people since despite having a flat in Reading I’ve never considered Reading as “home” – and anyone asking where I come from is always given the answer “Selby, Yorkshire”.

I find that people who have never been there do seem to have some pre-conceived ideas about what this means. When at university there was a series on the BBC called “All Creatures Great and Small” – based on the James Herriot books and set in the Dales. As a consequence some people thought I lived in an area of great natural beauty.

Others back then heard my accent and thought of the Yorkshire Miners – and because coal had been discovered and there was news on the Selby Coalfield they assumed I came from a pit village.

Neither image is true. The Vale of York is all pretty flat. We used to joke that you could pass your Driving Test in Goole without having to use a handbrake or do a hill start. The village I was born in is very rural and orientated towards agriculture – the soil is very fertile and they grow lots of peas, potatoes and other such delicacies.

And though I once had a trip down Kellingley Pit my father was a carpenter & joiner – so I have no connection with mining whatsoever!

New Potatoes

Hopefully about this time in two weeks I will be touching down at Heathrow for a brief Christmas in the UK with family. So far – despite all my time working abroad – I have always managed to come back to the UK for Christmas. The only Christmas without family was in the UK – when they’d all gone off to Bangkok to see my sister (who was working there at the time).

Naturally – after six months away – I’m looking forward to certain things – fish & chips, Yorkshire Pudding, corned beef, real ale and home cooking to name a few.

Since my experience over here of “chicken remains curry” (a curry that seemed to contain all the bits you might use to flavour the gravy in England but wouldn’t eat) I’ve exercised a bit more control over the cook and what he feeds me. Now I only get chicken that’s boneless and skinless. With a bit of effort we’ve managed to get Fish Sauce – thus enabling us to cook a Thai style dish of chicken & baby corns.

Best find has been new potatoes – which boiled with mint and served with butter are really excellent in taste. Coming from a rural background my father and grandfather both used to grow potatoes – and both having birthdays in June used to see if they could have a few ready in time. It was something to look forward to – even if it meant that we got grilled fish to go with them rather than the usual fried in batter version (since new potatoes are no good as chips).

Living overseas normally I’ve had to put up with the ubiquitous “French fry” or occasionally boiled potatoes – so it makes a really pleasant change to be able to get something I really like but have normally only had in the summer months in England.