One year ago London was sweltering under the intense summer heat of the Paralympics - I should know because I was there. I got sunburned sitting watching Paralympic football and escaped into the indoor Basketball Arena for respite and wheelchair rugby (a most exhilarating sport!).
This year hasn't been so good weather-wise. One day of scorching heat on Thursday and then the temperature drops and the rain emerges. O yes, this is September in Britain. It's been raining on and off all weekend but that's not all bad. The berries are starting to emerge and this will help them plump up and be juicy.
That made me think of pomegranates and how they always used to appear and then disappear over a few weeks from about mid-September to mid-October and then those lovelies wouldn't be seen again until the following year. Do you remember when that was the norm? When fruit came according to the seasons and was a joy for a few weeks or months before it vanished again?
These days you can see pomegranates in some shops whenever you want one and little tubs of pomegranate seeds in many supermarkets all year round. I take advantage of the tubs of seeds every now and then but wouldn't dream of buying a whole pomegranate out of season. That's just not right. Pomegranates are for September/October and that's a fact that has always been a fact throughout my lifetime.
Younger folks and folks in other countries might find this odd, that some fruits only used to be available at certain times of the year but it's what I remember. I had my first pomegranate in the late '60s as a treat from my Grandma and we ate it with pins to prick out the seeds. I don't bother with pins these days but launch straight in!
I suppose it's partly a hang-over from rationing after World War II (that went on in this country long after the war ended) and the slow development of preservation techniques (refrigeration and such) but I quite like the idea of some fruits being only available at certain times of the year. Not just pomegranates but also berries like blackberries. I admit to buying blackberries in the summer months but they are, really, autumnal fruits and should stay there.
Seasons of mists and mellow fruitfulness and all that.
This year hasn't been so good weather-wise. One day of scorching heat on Thursday and then the temperature drops and the rain emerges. O yes, this is September in Britain. It's been raining on and off all weekend but that's not all bad. The berries are starting to emerge and this will help them plump up and be juicy.
That made me think of pomegranates and how they always used to appear and then disappear over a few weeks from about mid-September to mid-October and then those lovelies wouldn't be seen again until the following year. Do you remember when that was the norm? When fruit came according to the seasons and was a joy for a few weeks or months before it vanished again?These days you can see pomegranates in some shops whenever you want one and little tubs of pomegranate seeds in many supermarkets all year round. I take advantage of the tubs of seeds every now and then but wouldn't dream of buying a whole pomegranate out of season. That's just not right. Pomegranates are for September/October and that's a fact that has always been a fact throughout my lifetime.
Younger folks and folks in other countries might find this odd, that some fruits only used to be available at certain times of the year but it's what I remember. I had my first pomegranate in the late '60s as a treat from my Grandma and we ate it with pins to prick out the seeds. I don't bother with pins these days but launch straight in!
I suppose it's partly a hang-over from rationing after World War II (that went on in this country long after the war ended) and the slow development of preservation techniques (refrigeration and such) but I quite like the idea of some fruits being only available at certain times of the year. Not just pomegranates but also berries like blackberries. I admit to buying blackberries in the summer months but they are, really, autumnal fruits and should stay there.
Seasons of mists and mellow fruitfulness and all that.
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