Pigs - April 2015

Many years ago on a visit to France I noticed a farmer talking to his pigs in French, the pigs seemed to understand what he was saying. It was then that I realised how clever animals are, even pigs could understand words in French. But when I went over to them and did an oink oink in English all I got from them was groin groin. I was puzzled, what were they trying to tell me. It was many years later that I found out that pigs may go "oink oink" in English but in French they go "groin groin", how strange. Even stranger in Polish they go "chrum chrum" and in Mandarine Chinese they go "hu-lu Hu-lu. One day I must go over to China to see if this is true although they may take a dislike to me when they see me leaning into a pig sty going Oink Oink. According to reports 60 per cent of the worlds two billion pigs live in China but according to the same report dogs look up to us and cats look down on us but pigs treat us as equal so I should be ok although the Chinese farmer may have other ideas.

Oink Oink

The Sandwich - March 2015

The origin of the word 'sandwich' for an item of food may have originated from a story about John Montagu, the 4th Earl of Sandwich. He didn't really 'invent' the sandwich but he may have made it popular. It is said that in approx. 1792  he asked for meat to be served between slices of bread, to avoid interrupting a gambling game. This story may have been rumour or adverse propoganda, put about by his rivals. but soon people may have started ordering “the same as Sandwich”, and the name stuck ! Sandwich is an historic town and civil parish on the River Stour near Dover, Kent, in the South East of England. Three miles from Sandwich there is a sign just outside a village called Ham that points to Sandwich but the Ham Sandwich did not originate from there although it is a very popular ingredient of the humble Sandwich today. Its nearly lunchtime and I'm feeling a bit peckish, so I feel I need to have a sandwich and what a choice there is today thanks to the 4th Earl of Sandwich. From the basic chip sandwich to exotic varieties like wild crayfish, tuna and even sweetcorn the list of fillings is endless. As a vegetarian I must admit to a liking for banana sandwiches although with so many choices of vegetarian cheeses I must admit to a liking for a toasted cheese sandwich. What is your favourite sandwich filling? A friend once told me that he liked kipper sandwiches but I find that hard to swallow!!! It sounds a bit fishy if you ask me.

The Duvet - January 2015

I have never been a great fan of the duvet although it seems to have become a part of our everyday lives now. Trying to put the cover back over it after it has been washed is one of my least favourite tasks. Then it seems to move around inside its cover and I have to climb back inside it to put it back into place. I would rather have the old blankets, bedspreads and sheets. Apparently duvets are more practical and if you choose the right duvets it makes for a really good nights sleep. No one seems to know who invented it but some sources state that the Chinese were the first people to use duvets and that was a long time ago, around 3000 B.C. An Englishman Paul Rycaut (1629 -1700 A.D.) was credited as being the first to try and market the duvet in England as apparently they were already in use in Germany. However he failed to create a market for them.

In 1749 English writer Thomas Nugent had been on the Grand Tour of Europe and Nugent mentions in his writings a description of what appears to be duvets being used by European families. We already had the Eiderdown and whilst we might describe it as an early form of duvet it did not replace blankets which were much heavier and warmer.

The duvet really started to become well used in the 1970’s where in Britain it became commonly called the ‘Continental Quilt’. Sir Terence Conran (founder of Habitat) discovered duvets being used in Sweden and became the first to sell duvets in Britain in 1964. Very soon the use of duvets caught on and were marketed as the 10 second bed as it is much easier to make a bed with a duvet.

The modern duvet is made from many fillings with natural fillings like feather or down, alpaca and man made materials such as polyester.

The duvet certainly has a long history and we can take comfort in the fact that we can now have the benefits of the development in duvets over the years. For all those people that love them you can enjoy your a ‘duvet days’ when you stay in bed all day, for me I still prefer sheets and blankets on my bed.