The joy of fennel

Man waxes long on the beauty of fennel and its versatility. I have never tried it although I gather it tastes of aniseed. I could be a willing convert as he told me how he was introduced to fennel by someone who put in a salad but once tasted he was trying every way to eat the thing- baked, boiled, roasted and today he was having it a risotto. He told me that the Anglo Saxons were keen on it. Anyway definetely a missionary for Foeniculum

Makem tells me going to Roker Park in his youth. I used to know a footballer who played there for Port Vale against Sunderland in a FA Cup game and was intimidated by the Roker Roar. The shopper recalled a scene when someone tried to burn down a gate whether that was to get in or out he never elaborated.

Woman buys up a lot of Cheddar because they don't have it in Brittany. She is off visiting a relative. Perfidious French.

Woman buys felt flyers which is just an update on the paper aeroplane which she will use to pacify the grand kids on holiday in Cornwall.

The Express has a headline about " Living Longer". Its either health, immigrant or weather stories. I suppose the ideal headline would combine all three "Asylum Seeker brings in deadly virus during blizzard". The Daily Mail is a far better newspaper, even though I do not agree with its politics.

Elderly couple who tell me cheerfully that they use the trolleys as "zimmer frames". They are not happy with Iain Duncan Smith and his appeal for pensioners to surrender their benefits. They are suffering, like me, from "consumption of the purse" to use Falstaff's phrase