Time slip

As I wandered through our staff canteen today, lunch items in hand, I was momentarily captivating by the aroma of mint sauce. (This sentence sounds amusing but I really was captivated). A temporal slip occurred. I was transported back in time to my childhood, where I had wonderful times sat around my nana’s dining room table, eating lamb and mint sauce or roast beef and Yorkshire pudding. I recall that she always offered my dad seconds, thirds and fourths. She’d say “do you want more Howard” and before he had time to answer, the enormous helpings would be ladled onto his already over-crowded plate. My nana was from Newcastle-upon-Tyne. She was and is a wonderful woman. Her time spent in Cheshire meant that much of her accent was lost but often she’d spring back into Geordie. One of her food-associated catchphrases was “get it up thee”. Odd though that statement may sound, to her, it made perfect sense. It was the statement used to encourage you to clean your plate. The fact that food does not travel in upwards direction, on its journey from mouth to stomach was irrelevant to her. I suppose she referred to the initial phase of the journey, where the fork moves the food from plate to mouth. When I think of her catchphrase I smile. I smile then I feel sad. I will always miss her.