Conversation

Dan.   "  Are you free for a coffee?" 
John.  " When are you thinking of?" 
Dan.   " Are you free now?"
John.   " I can't now, I'm heating fish and chips in the oven and Mary's been stung in the gob by a wasp!"
Dan.    " Poor Mary.......Fish and chips? It's only 9.30 am....?"
John.    " It's for Trevor...he's got a frozen shoulder and hasn't eaten anything for 24 hours"
Dan.     " who is Trevor?" 
John.    " My 95 year old neighbour"
Dan.     " Fish and chips for breakfast that's a bit wacky"
John.     " It's what he fancied"
Dan.      " Where did you get fish and chips on a Monday morning?"
John.      " Sainsbury's"
Dan.       " With mushy peas?"
John.       " No regular peas!"
Dan.        " How awful!" 

103 comments:

  1. Your stomach doesn't care what time it is when it wants fish and chips.

    That's very nice of you to make breakfast for your neighbor. You're a kind person, John.

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  2. You are so kind John, Trevor is lucky to have a friend and neighbour like you.

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  3. Funny how people get so passionate about mushy peas.

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    1. Yes the debate continued about them for another age

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  4. good for you, John..and good for your neighbours that you're staying in the village

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    1. There is at least one who would disagree

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    2. that's village life...if something is 100% you worry!

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  5. JOHN After that I am going to my step aerobics class.
    DAN Have you still got your silver lurex leotard?
    JOHN No I just wear a leopard print thong nowadays.
    DAN Cool. See ya later!
    JOHN Bye!

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  6. Anonymous12:47 pm

    You are a good man John. Everyone needs a friend like you. Have a great day!
    xxCali G

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  7. Sounds like Waiting for Godot!

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  8. I stayed in Trelawnyd over the weekend with friend Meirion. We didn't make the flower show, but I can certainly recommend the fish and chips with mushy peas at the chippie in Llanfairfechan. Lovely.

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    1. Meirion with the lovely garden? He won the cup for it when I ran the show

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    2. Yes, we spent the weekend sourcing more plants and visiting the garden at Plas yn Rhiw on the Llyn Peninsula. He was proud of that cup.

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  9. I don't want you to feel neglected by me:

    Are all your conversations as stimulating as the above?

    Question Number Two: Do you ever get sick of so many of your readers attesting as to how "kind" you are, day in day out? Only asking because my own saccharine threshold is so low even half a teaspoon full of sugar is enough to make me gag.

    Sincerely yours,
    U

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    Replies
    1. Ursula- I don't like sweet foods much either but I find kindness to each other helps makes our world a better place x

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    2. Flis....being nice can only be a good thing

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    3. Yes, "being kind" is the preferred option. But only if you mean it, if you are sincere, and not just because you want to be seen as "nice" or because, by default, you want to avoid conflict or, worst case scenario, are unable to sort out differences in an amicable way.

      Fact is, you can be the kindest person in the world, yet that does not necessarily make you nice. You can be the nicest person in the world, that does not make you the kindest.

      I think one thing that sucks for me in blogland is that it appears an echo chamber. If you don't chime in with the approving chorus you are fucked. Not in all quarters. But in some.

      Well, John, at least - and we have thrashed this out for years - credit that despite voices to sway you otherwise you have enough spirit to largely let me stand - and whilst you rarely do so in a kind or nice way it is nice and kind of you to do so.

      U

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    4. Ursula
      Don't worry so about others comments
      They are their own and don't need to be criticised for being saccharine .
      It's nice to have positive feedback but I know myself very well and a saint I am not...
      Chill eh

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    5. Ursula- I enjoy reading your comments and I think it's great that we all have different opinions x

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  10. Told you you were indispensible to Trelawnyd.

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  11. Anonymous1:21 pm

    If l had one ounce of your compassionate, caring nature John.
    I would consider myself very fortunate indeed!
    Tess x

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  12. Trevor has my complete sympathy, my left shoulder is freezing up despite my best efforts to keep it from so doing. My right shoulder froze some years ago and it was, without exception the most painful thing I have ever had to endure. Poor Trevor having to endure it in his nineties, that just isn't fair at all.

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  13. Only you could have this conversation! Rolls eyes whilst chuckling! x

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    1. I enjoy listening to conversations between people in public

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  14. Poor Trevor and poor Mary! I fancy fish and chips now with petit pois!

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  15. did someone say mushy peas? my favourite :)

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    Replies
    1. With lashings of vinigar and a good pinch of salt

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  16. Regular peas? With fish and chips? .....*faints*

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  17. Poor Mary. I assume she eats wasps like my Elsie.

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  18. Barbara Anne2:28 pm

    Poor Trevor to have such a painful shoulder. He's fortunate to have a good neighbor to keep an eye on him and provide much needed food.

    Poor Mary! Hope she's recovering from the discomfort and the indignity of the wasp sting.

    Did you meet up with Dan for coffee later? Inquiring minds, you know. :)

    Hugs!

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  19. Spicy sky raisins..!

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  20. Conversations like that end up as dialogue on tv shows. :)
    Hope Trevor enjoyed his meal.

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    Replies
    1. I think he's ok . I bought him some new painkillers and so I hope he's now almost pain free. He's not usually a tablet taker

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  21. I went through a phase of eating dundee cake for breakfast.

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  22. I will never forget the our first encounter with "mushy peas." Jay found them quite good and commented on how the peas retained their essential peaness. It didn't quite come out the way he intended, and the mere mention of mushy peas, make the two of us giggle like school girls.

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    1. Mushy peas.....are only secondary to a scotch egg in my list of fav tastes

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  23. Has he never heard of kippers and kedgeree? Oh wait, he's probably Welsh.

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    Replies
    1. I was wracking my head to think of a Welsh breakfast
      I suspect black pudding and Welsh cakes

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  24. Heidi4:48 pm

    I wish you were my neighbour.

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  25. I hope Mary's mouth hasn't swollen up x

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  26. John, so I just read above that you don't tire of being told how nice you are.. good because I think you are a sweet sweet man for looking out for your elderly neighbor. I also think that should I reach 95, I'm going to eat whatever the heck I want during any part of the day, since I may have to permanently skip all my the next meals!

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    1. In my experience all of us are nice people because most of us want to do nice things for others.
      A lady fell in the lane today and six people came out to help her...it's just normal

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  27. A friend of mine likes mushy peas so much that she took her own for pub fish n chip suppers to the pub where her then teenage daughter worked to substitute for regular peas.

    My mother loves a treat of fish n chips and has brought them back to her bungalow in a taxi !

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    1. I think older people love fish and chips because of the lashings of vinegar and salt that accompany them
      Old taste buds can taste better

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    2. It's a rare treat for my mother but something we take for granted as our village has a fantastic fish and chips shop.

      I love talking to my 89 year old mother about war time food xx

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  28. What a frightful experience for little Mary. Hope there haven't been any lasting effects and that she can put what happened down to it being a freak happening unlikely to be repeated.

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    1. Dogs are fairly stupid animals generally
      She won't do that again

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    2. 'Dogs' and 'stupid' are not words I care to see together - however true it might appear to be.

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    3. I'm talking generally here Raymondo
      Dogs are often " guns ho" in their behaviour
      Instinct and excitement takes over from sense

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    4. Not to worry, JayGee. I know where your comment is coming from. :-)

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  29. So, I just moved to the Seattle area and went to the oldest fish and chips restaurant in the area. I got the Halibut and it was wonderful. So a friend from Scotland is visiting and we passed by it around lunch time. We decided to stop in with her. She said that it was different than what you'd expect in the UK. I don't think she really liked it. I guess it could have been worse, we could have taken her to McDonalds.

    You are so thoughtful of your neighbors. I'm glad you will be staying in the village.

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    1. Fish in chips is purely an uk speciality ....me thinks

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    2. The fish and chip shop in Bluff New Zealand. The fish was blue cod - and they still wrap their fish and chips in newspaper.

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    3. Is the batter similar?

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    4. Fish and Chips from Ivar's on Seattle's Pier One. Dreams are made of this.....:)

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    5. Yes the batter at Bluff NZ was light and crispy. Long way to go for proper fish and chips.

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  30. It sounds like you live in a very wonderful place filled with kind people. That's worth a lot in one's life. I hope if I make it to 95 that someone would be as kind as you were.

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    1. Mick I know you are a kinder soul than I

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  31. poor mary. ain't nothing wrong with fish for breakfast!

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  32. You've got me curious about mushy peas, I have long heard of them but never had any. Got a recipe to share?

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    1. Dried peas, water, salt. Soak overnight. Rinse, simmer until soft removing any scum that forms. Mash. Add seasoning, plus a little white wine vinegar.

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    2. 300g (11 oz) frozen peas
      4 tablespoons double cream
      1 tablespoon butter
      1/2 teaspoon salt
      1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
      Cook peas and mash then add everything else,
      Sometimes a bit of mint with it

      Serve with strong seasoning and a little vinigar

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    3. John's Michelin star peas

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    4. Yours was a more working class offering

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    5. ...and are what is served in possibly every chip shop in the UK (bar an addition of food colouring).

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  33. PS I live in Oregon, no one here has them.

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  34. It would be worse with NO peas.

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  35. What is double cream? And...I thought ''they'' have decided dogs are quite intelligent? As demonstrated by your forecast for Mary, "she won't do that again," One ouch and she learned, poor little girl.

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  36. I hope Trevor enjoyed his breakfast and no doubt your visit as well.
    I always enjoy reading the comments you do attract the nicest people John.

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  37. Hey, it’s always time to have fish and chips!
    It’s one of my go to dishes. 😎

    XoXo

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  38. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  39. I hope Trevor enjoyed his breakfast, John. Poor Mary, hope her mouth didn't swell up too much, bless her. Peaky wasps!

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  40. I just read the other comments. What do you mean you’re not a saint?!? For fuck’s sake, have I been fooled into liking someone who’s not perfect?!? But that’s beside the point... With MUSHY pies would be much worse.

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  41. Haha ... brilliant 🙂. We're so bloody stuck on cereal, toast or porridge OR a big fry up for breakfast in the UK. Who's to say fish, chips and peas are not THE best start to the day. Not mushy though ... never mushy 🤣🤣🤣

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I love all comments Except abusive ones from arseholes