With a coincidental precision that would please any maker of atomic clocks, at 9am the thunder started. The roaring detonation outlasted the final Greenwich pip by several seconds and then gave way to solid hiss of rain. Explosive drops cratering the canal, pulling leafs into water.
Radio 4 headlines absorbed, I walk my bruises along the towpath. The canalside air is a warm kiss, the downpour pure espresso. After Belfast, Dorset and broken toes, this is the first time in three weeks I have actually fulfilled my boyfriend duty to get and the papers and milk.
It is not the rain that keeps me close to canal today. There is a natural indolent gravity to the Three Bridge Kingdom when you feel under the weather in every way. It is easy to wait for the barge which serves as a mobile shop to chug passed. I can buy beer for the batter at the end of the road, pick rain-washed rosemary from the towpath.
Night comes. I cook sausage toad and roasted vegetables for four, pour wine. I am surrounded by friendship, laughter and love. There are no greater forces to bind me to this place than those.
10 comments:
I hate to ask... what is sausage toad?
Rain makes me sad but friendship can wipe that away in a second.
"What," he asked with trepidation, "is 'sausage toad'?"
I am tempted to make jokes about sausages made from toads, but also feel obligated to urge you to type the phrase ‘toad in the hole wiki’ into Google. The shortest answer: good English cuisine.
"Sausage toad" is a secret English Hoodoo recipe passed down to Southwell through generations of Essex cunning men. It involves procuring a live toad, crucifying it upside down on an oak tree, placing the carcass in an ants nest so that the flesh is eaten away, then placing the bones in a stream and picking the one that floats to the surface. This bone is then cooked up with some sausages and yorkshire pudding.
What happened to know, will, dare and be silent? Are all the English Hoodoo recipes to be spilled? Are generations of Hadleigh crow doctor secrets to be paraded before the web browsing world? Next you will be telling them the Essex cunning man way of procuring toadstones and how they can be used to talk to horses. Oh well, at least I am thankful you did not mention which phase of the moon to make sausage toad under.
Can I come round canalside and get some of this English Hoodoo toad?
Sorry, there is a waiting list.
It's a rare thing for a mercenary (Somerled would be proud, hmmm narrowboat galley a connection?)to find a place that binds him to it... you lucky man!:)
Glad I slightly misread the Sonically Sculpted Moments post
the first time.
While I love Toad (as my dearest Dee calls it), I am reminded of classic Peter Cook.
And everyone knows that you simply cannot procure your finest toad until after the first frost after the Harvest Moon.
Mirk – I know my stay here is temporary, but there is a part of my heart that wishes I could be bound here till the end of my days. By the way, you did not misread it entirely.
Crazylegs – I do Toad with apple, but never peach.
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