Bake-a-yarn: Student Fare- circa 1973

Friday, 24 February 2023

It was Ready Brek or a tin of Ambrosia Creamed Rice

Beans on toast or Campbell's Scotch Broth-

Daily fare for a student of the Nineteenth Century English Novel

I must have felt like Oliver, slopping that gruel down my throat,

though not asking for more, all the while

berated by Joseph's finger pointing,

"Sit ye down and think o' yer sowl!"*

spurred only by the prospect of a romp

on the moors with himself

or an invite to a Bath ball

and the prospect of a Boulangere**

with a landed gent of considerable means.

And though I now eat my five a day

and supplement with Seven Seas

I'd go back anytime to that bowl of gruel

and my first encounter with Romance...

* Wuthering Heights

** The only dance actually mentioned in Jane Austen's novels. See video clip below