Last evening Geoffrey and I huddled by the stone urn on the Fulmars' patio, watching the final of the Great British Bake-off on their 93 inch curved flat screen 3D TV, via their French windows. It's lucky for us that they never close their curtains - aping people in the movies I suppose. Take Sean Connery in The Untouchables for example. Why, for pity's sake, if you knew that the henchmen of Al Capone were after you, would you.....
'Tuppy!!'
Geoffrey shook me awake and handed me a steaming cup of T-G Tips.
'Insufficient today Geoffrey. It'll have to be the adrenalin shot to the heart.'
'Okey-doke. I'll just give the syringe a flush through under the tap. I was using it to baste the...'
'No you weren't. Just get on with it.'
50cc of industrial-strenf 'aortic adrenalin' and three mugs of T-G Tips and four bacon sandwiches and five slices of toast and Val Nark's 'hedgerow marmalade' later....
'What did you make of that then?'
'I thought it was awful. Anyone can bake a cake.'
'Can you bake a cake?'
'No. But did you see the state of them?''
'That's not nice.'
'I'm only being honest.'
'All right. What about the croquembouches'?'
'Excuse me?'
'Precisely. Mrs T-G is making one At This Very Moment.'
'How do you know that?'
'I can sense it. Not only that, I can smell it.'
'You can't.'
'That's right, I can't. But I've got a fair idea. And it's the type of fair idea that makes me Very Afraid and Keeps Me Awake at Night. Remember the black sausage rolls?'
'Oooh yes. I do. Everyone got...'
'Quite. I'll raise you those and give you the Croquembouche. Croquembouche translates as 'break in mouth'. Need I say more, in this context? Probably not, but I will anyway. She's erecting a vast choux tower covered with toffee hard enough to crack your eye teeth on, right at this very minute, and she's seeking ways of insisting that we eat it, fuelled by rage and resentment relating to her Paris persona. She's beaten that choux mixture and spun that sugar until it can take no more, and she's brooding until she's scared she bursts with the power of sheer hatred. I'll even bet that she thinks she's bilingual because she can say 'Croquembouche' with a cigarette in her mouth and an air of 1950s Gallic aplomb.'
'Well! If she IS bilingual I dare say that's her own business; the T-G hasn't mentioned that before. I suppose her Paris days must have broadened her horizons....'
'You're being disingenuous again. Stop it, and start focusing on what really matters.'
'All right. What does really matter, when all's said and done though Tuppy? I've always wondered about that, but I've thought perhaps it's best to not know. A little knowledge is a dangerous thing Tuppy.'
'What do you mean?'
'I don't know what I mean. Let's talk about Mrs T-G again. It stops my head from spinning.'
'Well, one French word and she thinks she's Jean Paul Sartre. Next she'll be contributing a weekly philosophy column to the Bugle.'
'Oh yes - the Bugle. Our new local free at the point of delivery newspaper. But shouldn't she be thinking she's Simone de Beauvoir rather than Jean Paul Sartre?'
'She's bilingual, remember, silly?'
'Oh of course.....I'd forgotten already..........'
More on the Bugle later. More on Mrs T-G's Croquembouche later. More on the rights and wrongs of calling people 'silly', later.....
Find more Tuppy & Geoffrey tales on Amazon http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sea-Penguin-Part-Five-Selections-ebook/dp/B00FW19E0Y/ref=pd_rhf_gw_p_img_1
'Tuppy!!'
Geoffrey shook me awake and handed me a steaming cup of T-G Tips.
'Insufficient today Geoffrey. It'll have to be the adrenalin shot to the heart.'
'Okey-doke. I'll just give the syringe a flush through under the tap. I was using it to baste the...'
'No you weren't. Just get on with it.'
50cc of industrial-strenf 'aortic adrenalin' and three mugs of T-G Tips and four bacon sandwiches and five slices of toast and Val Nark's 'hedgerow marmalade' later....
'What did you make of that then?'
'I thought it was awful. Anyone can bake a cake.'
'Can you bake a cake?'
'No. But did you see the state of them?''
'That's not nice.'
'I'm only being honest.'
'All right. What about the croquembouches'?'
'Excuse me?'
'Precisely. Mrs T-G is making one At This Very Moment.'
'How do you know that?'
'I can sense it. Not only that, I can smell it.'
'You can't.'
'That's right, I can't. But I've got a fair idea. And it's the type of fair idea that makes me Very Afraid and Keeps Me Awake at Night. Remember the black sausage rolls?'
'Oooh yes. I do. Everyone got...'
'Quite. I'll raise you those and give you the Croquembouche. Croquembouche translates as 'break in mouth'. Need I say more, in this context? Probably not, but I will anyway. She's erecting a vast choux tower covered with toffee hard enough to crack your eye teeth on, right at this very minute, and she's seeking ways of insisting that we eat it, fuelled by rage and resentment relating to her Paris persona. She's beaten that choux mixture and spun that sugar until it can take no more, and she's brooding until she's scared she bursts with the power of sheer hatred. I'll even bet that she thinks she's bilingual because she can say 'Croquembouche' with a cigarette in her mouth and an air of 1950s Gallic aplomb.'
'Well! If she IS bilingual I dare say that's her own business; the T-G hasn't mentioned that before. I suppose her Paris days must have broadened her horizons....'
'You're being disingenuous again. Stop it, and start focusing on what really matters.'
'All right. What does really matter, when all's said and done though Tuppy? I've always wondered about that, but I've thought perhaps it's best to not know. A little knowledge is a dangerous thing Tuppy.'
'What do you mean?'
'I don't know what I mean. Let's talk about Mrs T-G again. It stops my head from spinning.'
'Well, one French word and she thinks she's Jean Paul Sartre. Next she'll be contributing a weekly philosophy column to the Bugle.'
'Oh yes - the Bugle. Our new local free at the point of delivery newspaper. But shouldn't she be thinking she's Simone de Beauvoir rather than Jean Paul Sartre?'
'She's bilingual, remember, silly?'
'Oh of course.....I'd forgotten already..........'
More on the Bugle later. More on Mrs T-G's Croquembouche later. More on the rights and wrongs of calling people 'silly', later.....
Find more Tuppy & Geoffrey tales on Amazon http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sea-Penguin-Part-Five-Selections-ebook/dp/B00FW19E0Y/ref=pd_rhf_gw_p_img_1
